On the origin of the "giant" electroclinic effect in a "de Vries"-type ferroelectric liquid crystal material for chirality sensing applications

Chemphyschem. 2009 Apr 14;10(6):890-2. doi: 10.1002/cphc.200900065.

Abstract

W415 is a chiral smectic compound with a remarkably weak temperature dependence of its giant electroclinic effect in the liquid crystalline smectic A* phase. Furthermore it possesses a high spontaneous polarization in the smectic C* phase. The origin of this striking electroclinic effect is the co-occurrence of a de Vries-type ordering with a weak first-order tilting transition (see the synchroton X-ray scattering profiles).