New SmAPF Mesogens Designed for Analog Electrooptics Applications

Eva D Korblova; Edward Guzman; Joseph E Maclennan; Matthew A Glaser; Renfan Shao; Edgardo Garcia; Yongqiang Shen; Rayshan Visvanathan; Noel A Clark; David M Walba

doi:10.3390/ma10111284

New SmAP_F Mesogens Designed for Analog Electrooptics Applications

Materials (Basel). 2017 Nov 9;10(11):1284. doi: 10.3390/ma10111284.

Authors

Eva D Korblova^{1

2}, Edward Guzman^{3

4}, Joseph E Maclennan^{5

6}, Matthew A Glaser^{7

8}, Renfan Shao^{9

10}, Edgardo Garcia^{11

12

13}, Yongqiang Shen^{14

15}, Rayshan Visvanathan^{16

17}, Noel A Clark^{18

19}, David M Walba^{20

21}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, 215 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0215, USA. Eva.Korblova@Colorado.EDU.
² Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. Eva.Korblova@Colorado.EDU.
³ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, 215 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0215, USA. edward.guzman@colorado.edu.
⁴ Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. edward.guzman@colorado.edu.
⁵ Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. jem@colorado.edu.
⁶ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. jem@colorado.edu.
⁷ Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. matthew.glaser@colorado.edu.
⁸ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. matthew.glaser@colorado.edu.
⁹ Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. shaor@colorado.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. shaor@colorado.edu.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, 215 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0215, USA. edgardo.garcia@colorado.edu.
¹² Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. edgardo.garcia@colorado.edu.
¹³ Departamento De Quimica, Universidade De Brasilia, Brasilia DF 70910-900, Brazil. edgardo.garcia@colorado.edu.
¹⁴ Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. sheny@colorado.edu.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. sheny@colorado.edu.
¹⁶ Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. rayshan.visvanathan@colorado.edu.
¹⁷ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. rayshan.visvanathan@colorado.edu.
¹⁸ Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. Noel.Clark@Colorado.EDU.
¹⁹ Department of Physics, University of Colorado, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. Noel.Clark@Colorado.EDU.
²⁰ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, 215 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0215, USA. walba@colorado.edu.
²¹ Soft Materials Research Center, Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, 390 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA. walba@colorado.edu.

Abstract

We have previously reported the first realization of an orthogonal ferroelectric bent-core SmAP_F phase by directed design in mesogens with a single tricarbosilane-terminated alkoxy tail. Given the potentially useful electrooptic properties of this phase, including analog phase-only electrooptic index modulation with optical latching, we have been exploring its "structure space", searching for novel SmAP_F mesogens. Here, we report two classes of these-the first designed to optimize the dynamic range of the index modulation in parallel-aligned cells by lowering the bend angle of the rigid core, and the second expanding the structure space of the phase by replacing the tricarbosilane-terminated alkyl tail with a polyfluorinated polyethylene glycol oligomer.

Keywords: SmAPF phase; bent-core liquid crystals; ferroelectric liquid crystals; polar and achiral liquid crystal phase.