Related papers: Spontaneous helix formation in polar smectic phase
A series of asymmetric dimers with an odd number of atoms in the spacer were found to form different types of twisted structures despite being achiral. The formation of a variety of helical structures is accompanied by a gradual freezing of…
Ferroelectric nematic (NF) phase and related polar liquid-crystalline phases form a new class of strongly polarized yet fluid soft matter. Well-recognized heliconical ferroelectric phases such as NTBF and SmC_P^H exist, but their…
The recent discovery of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking has demonstrated the possibility of discovering the exotic textures of ferromagnetic systems in liquid crystalline fluid ferro-electrics. We show that the polar smectic mesophase…
A material showing a sequence of three ferroelectric liquid crystalline phases below the paraelectric nematic phase has been synthesized and studied. The polar order of molecules appearing due to the dipole-dipole interactions in the NF…
It is known that the chiral interaction described by Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DMI) term lead to the plethora of topological structures of magnetic spins, such as helical or skyrmion phases. Here we present the that analogues electrical DMI…
Phenomenological model of chiral polar smectics is introduced with interactions up to the fourth neighboring layers. The minimization of the free energy gives three stable structures: the ferroelectric Sm C$^*$ phase, the antiferroelectric…
Under an electric field, chiral smectic liquid crystals transit usually to the unwound SmC* phase where the helical structure is completely unrolled. Sometimes the sample transits initially towards an intermediate polar state before the…
In our previous study, we demonstrated the existence of an unidentified ferroelectric smectic phase in the low-temperature region of the ferroelectric smectic A phase, where the layer spacing decreases with decreasing temperature. In the…
Spontaneous symmetry breaking and emergent polar order are each of fundamental importance to a range of scientific disciplines, as well as generating rich phase behaviour in liquid crystals (LCs). Here, we show the union of these phenomena…
Spontaneous formation of polarization gratings by liquid crystals made of bent dimeric molecules is reported. The grating is formed within the temperature range of the twist bend modulated nematic phase, NTB, without the necessity to…
The recently discovered heliconical ferroelectric nematic (NTBF) phase is a unique example of spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in a proper ferroelectric fluid. In this study, we investigate four homologous series of mesogenic compounds,…
Nematics with a broken polar symmetry is one of the fascinating recent discoveries in the field of soft matter. High spontaneous polarisation and the fluidity of the ferroelectric nematic $N_{\mathrm{F}}$ phase make such materials…
We report the smectic $A_F$, a new liquid crystal phase of the ferroelectric nematic realm. The smectic $A_F$ is a phase of small polar, rod-shaped molecules which form two-dimensional fluid layers spaced by approximately the mean molecular…
In soft matter, the polar orientational order of molecules can facilitate the coexistence of structural chirality and ferroelectricity. The ferroelectric nematic (NF) state, exhibited by achiral calamitic molecules with large dipole…
The twist-bend nematic (Ntb) phase is a recent addition to the nematic (N) phases of liquid crystals (LCs). A net polar order in the Ntb phase under an external electric field was predicted in several recent theoretical studies but yet to…
We show that stable, freely suspended liquid crystal films can be made from the ferroelectric nematic ($\mathrm{N_F}$) phase and from the recently discovered polar, lamellar $\mathrm{SmZ_A}$ and $\mathrm{SmA_F}$ phases. The $\mathrm{N_F}$…
The discovery of the ferroelectric nematic phase has brought with it a plethora of new polar liquid crystalline phases. One in particular is the anti-ferroelectric smectic A SmA\textsubscript{AF} phase. In this letter we show via…
The ground state of twist-bend nematic liquid crystals is a heliconical molecular arrangement in which the nematic director precesses uniformly about an axis, making a fixed angle with it. Both precession senses are allowed in the ground…
Ferroelectric nematic phases are a new class of polar fluids in which spontaneous polarization is directly coupled to the orientational order, providing unique opportunities for creating self-organized materils with spatially modulated…
We explore surface alignment and edge dislocations in the recently discovered twist-bend ferroelectric nematic, NTBF, in which the vector of spontaneous polarization follows an oblique helicoidal trajectory around a polar twist-bend axis.…