E-T phase diagram in an antiferroelectric liquid crystal III

Abstract

On the basis of the discrete model, we have investigated the E(Electric field)-T(temperature) phase diagram of an antiferroelectric liquid crystal MHPOCBC, in which a new phase was found in the SmCalpha* phase under electric fields by means of the birefringence measurement. It was found that the new phase is a ferrielectric phase with a period of three layers, in which the molecules are restricted in one plane perpendicular to the electric field, and a nonlinear nearest neighbor interaction is important for stabilizing the phase.