Confinement effects at the transition from a chiral fluid SmC* to a hexatic SmI* liquid crystal phase

I. Dierking, A. K. Ghosh, W. Haase

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    The temperature dependence of the spontaneous polarization across the phase transition from the fluid smectic C* to the hexatic smectic I* phase of a chiral liquid crystal was investigated with respect to confinement effects, due to closely spaced substrates. A strong thickness dependence of the polarization was observed in both the SmC* and SmI* phases, which cannot be interpreted either by polarization screening due to ionic impurities, or by the polarization self-screening model. A possible explanation is given in terms of non-switching interface regions close to the substrates, caused by strong anchoring conditions. It is demonstrated that the occurrence of bond-orientational order does not affect the anchoring behaviour of the liquid crystal. Confinement effects were observed for decreasing cell gap below 4 μm, while the first order character of the SmC*-SmI* phase transition is retained.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)13441-13448
    Number of pages7
    JournalJournal of Physics: Condensed Matter
    Volume14
    Issue number49
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 16 Dec 2002

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