The ferroelectric (Sm C∗) -- antiferroelectric (Sm CA∗) -- reentrant ferroelectric (re Sm C∗) phase temperature sequence was observed for system with competing synclinic - anticlinic interactions. The basic properties of this system are as follows (1) the Sm C∗ phase is metastable in temperature range of the Sm CA∗ stability (2) the double inversions of the helix handedness at Sm C∗ -- Sm CA∗ and Sm CA∗% -- re-Sm C∗ phase transitions were found (3) the threshold electric field that is necessary to induce synclinic ordering in the Sm CA∗ phase decreases near both Sm CA∗ -- Sm C∗ and Sm CA∗ -- re-Sm C∗ phase boundaries, and it has maximum in the middle of the Sm CA∗ stability region. All these properties are properly described by simple Landau model that accounts for nearest neighboring layer steric interactions and quadrupolar ordering only.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0011045,
title = {Re-entrant ferroelectricity in liquid crystals},
author = {D. Pociecha and E. Gorecka and M. Cepic and N. Vaupotic and B. Zeks and D. Kardas and J. Mieczkowski},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0011045},
year = {2009}
}