Probable Langevin-like director reorientation in an interface-induced disordered SmC*-like state of liquid crystals characterized by frustration between ferro- and antiferroelectricity

Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Jul 2;87(1):015701. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.015701. Epub 2001 Jun 15.

Abstract

To clarify the thresholdless, hysteresis free V-shaped switching due to frustration between ferro- and antiferroelectricity, we have studied a prototype binary mixture system. The apparent orientational order parameters, <P2> and <P4>, obtained from polarized Raman scattering in thin homogeneous cells indicate that substrate interfaces induce some randomization of local in-plane directors at the tip of the V. Their correlation lengths, xi( parallel) approximately 3.5 nm and xi( perpendicular) approximately 75 nm, have been estimated by assuming the Langevin-like reorientation. Because of the much shorter xi(parallel) and xi(perpendicular) than the visible light wavelength, the switching process looks uniform.