200ns FT-IR Time-Resolved Spectroscopy and its Application to the Study of Transition Dynamics of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals

Abstract

Development of 200ns FT-IR time-resolved spectroscopy (TRS) and its application to the study of transition dynamics of ferroelectric liquid crystals are reported. The results indicate that the flexible alkyl chain appended to the rigid core undergoes a fast local motion in addition to the overall rotational motion of the entire molecule. FT-IR TRS with 200ns time-resolution has been able to isolate the internal conformational transition and provide new imformation about the molecular elementary process of ferroelectric transition in chiral smectic liquid crystals.