Polar order in a fluid like ferroelectric with a tilted lamellar structure -- observation of a polar smectic C (SmC${_\textrm{P}}$) phase

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hobbs, Jordan, Gibb, Calum J., Pociecha, Damian, Szydłowska, Jadwiga, Górecka, Ewa, Mandle, Richard. J.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866912128330366976
author Hobbs, Jordan
Gibb, Calum J.
Pociecha, Damian
Szydłowska, Jadwiga
Górecka, Ewa
Mandle, Richard. J.
author_facet Hobbs, Jordan
Gibb, Calum J.
Pociecha, Damian
Szydłowska, Jadwiga
Górecka, Ewa
Mandle, Richard. J.
contents The discovery of fluid states of matter with spontaneous bulk polar order is appreciated as a major discovery in the fields of soft matter and liquid crystals. Typically, this manifests as polar order superimposed atop conventional phase structures and is thus far limited to orthogonal phase types. Here we report a family of materials which exhibit a previously unseen state of matter which we conclude is a polar smectic C phase, and so we term it SmC${_\textrm{P}}$. The spontaneous polarisation of the SmC${_\textrm{P}}$ phase is over two orders of magnitude larger than that found in conventional ferroelectric SmC phase of chiral materials used in some LCD devices. Fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations faithfully and spontaneously reproduce the proposed structure and associated bulk properties; comparison of experimental and simulated X-ray scattering patterns shows excellent agreement. The materials disclosed here have significantly smaller dipole moments than typical polar liquid crystals such as RM734 which suggests the role of molecular electrical polarity in generating polar order is perhaps overstated, a view supported by consideration of other molecular systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_15859
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Polar order in a fluid like ferroelectric with a tilted lamellar structure -- observation of a polar smectic C (SmC${_\textrm{P}}$) phase
Hobbs, Jordan
Gibb, Calum J.
Pociecha, Damian
Szydłowska, Jadwiga
Górecka, Ewa
Mandle, Richard. J.
Soft Condensed Matter
The discovery of fluid states of matter with spontaneous bulk polar order is appreciated as a major discovery in the fields of soft matter and liquid crystals. Typically, this manifests as polar order superimposed atop conventional phase structures and is thus far limited to orthogonal phase types. Here we report a family of materials which exhibit a previously unseen state of matter which we conclude is a polar smectic C phase, and so we term it SmC${_\textrm{P}}$. The spontaneous polarisation of the SmC${_\textrm{P}}$ phase is over two orders of magnitude larger than that found in conventional ferroelectric SmC phase of chiral materials used in some LCD devices. Fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations faithfully and spontaneously reproduce the proposed structure and associated bulk properties; comparison of experimental and simulated X-ray scattering patterns shows excellent agreement. The materials disclosed here have significantly smaller dipole moments than typical polar liquid crystals such as RM734 which suggests the role of molecular electrical polarity in generating polar order is perhaps overstated, a view supported by consideration of other molecular systems.
title Polar order in a fluid like ferroelectric with a tilted lamellar structure -- observation of a polar smectic C (SmC${_\textrm{P}}$) phase
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.15859