Unexpected field-induced phase transitions between ferrielectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystal structures

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2008 Jan;77(1 Pt 1):010701. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.77.010701. Epub 2008 Jan 31.

Abstract

Liquid crystals are intriguing electrically responsive soft matter systems. We report previously unexplored field-induced changes in the structures of some frustrated liquid crystal phases and describe them theoretically. Specifically, we have discovered using resonant x-ray scattering that the four-layer intermediate smectic phase can undergo either a transition to the ferrielectric (three-layer) phase or to the ferroelectric phase, depending on temperature. Our studies of intermediate phases using electric fields offer a way to test theories that describe ferroelectricity in self-assembling fluids.