Ferroelectric Nematic and Smectic Liquid Crystals with Sub-Molecular Spatial Correlations

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Guragain, Parikshit, Ghimire, Arjun, Badu, Manisha, Dhakal, Netra Prasad, Nepal, Pawan, Gleeson, James T., Sprunt, Samuel, Twieg, Robert J., Jákli, Antal
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Guragain, Parikshit
Ghimire, Arjun
Badu, Manisha
Dhakal, Netra Prasad
Nepal, Pawan
Gleeson, James T.
Sprunt, Samuel
Twieg, Robert J.
Jákli, Antal
author_facet Guragain, Parikshit
Ghimire, Arjun
Badu, Manisha
Dhakal, Netra Prasad
Nepal, Pawan
Gleeson, James T.
Sprunt, Samuel
Twieg, Robert J.
Jákli, Antal
contents A number of highly polar three ring rod-shaped compounds with a terminal thiophene ring have been synthesized and the physical properties of a subset are reported in detail. On cooling from the isotropic fluid, they directly transition to a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal (NF) phase that shows the strongest spatial correlations corresponding to 1/3 of the molecular length (L/3). The set of thiophene compounds reported here have ferroelectric polarizations about 20% larger than that of usual ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal materials. Such large polarization values are due to the ~20% larger mass densities of these thiophene compounds compared to most of the NF materials with short terminal chains. These unusual properties are consequences of tighter molecular packing due to the lack of flexible terminal chains. Below the NF phase, compounds with a single nitro or two cyano polar groups on the terminal benzene ring exhibit a so far never observed smectic phase with periodicity ~1/3 the molecular length. Based on our experimental results, we propose a model of this phase featuring antipolar packing of the molecules within the layers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_03009
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Ferroelectric Nematic and Smectic Liquid Crystals with Sub-Molecular Spatial Correlations
Guragain, Parikshit
Ghimire, Arjun
Badu, Manisha
Dhakal, Netra Prasad
Nepal, Pawan
Gleeson, James T.
Sprunt, Samuel
Twieg, Robert J.
Jákli, Antal
Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
A number of highly polar three ring rod-shaped compounds with a terminal thiophene ring have been synthesized and the physical properties of a subset are reported in detail. On cooling from the isotropic fluid, they directly transition to a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal (NF) phase that shows the strongest spatial correlations corresponding to 1/3 of the molecular length (L/3). The set of thiophene compounds reported here have ferroelectric polarizations about 20% larger than that of usual ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal materials. Such large polarization values are due to the ~20% larger mass densities of these thiophene compounds compared to most of the NF materials with short terminal chains. These unusual properties are consequences of tighter molecular packing due to the lack of flexible terminal chains. Below the NF phase, compounds with a single nitro or two cyano polar groups on the terminal benzene ring exhibit a so far never observed smectic phase with periodicity ~1/3 the molecular length. Based on our experimental results, we propose a model of this phase featuring antipolar packing of the molecules within the layers.
title Ferroelectric Nematic and Smectic Liquid Crystals with Sub-Molecular Spatial Correlations
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.03009