Short-range smectic fluctuations and the flexoelectric model of modulated nematic liquid crystals

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Vaupotič, Nataša and Curk, Samo and Osipov, Mikhail A. and Čepič, Mojca and Takezoe, Hideo and Gorecka, Ewa (2016) Short-range smectic fluctuations and the flexoelectric model of modulated nematic liquid crystals. Physical Review E, 93 (2). 022704. ISSN 2470-0053 (https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.93.022704)

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Abstract

We show that the flexoelectric model of chiral and achiral modulated nematics predicts the compression modulus that is by orders of magnitude lower than the measured values. The discrepancy is much larger in the chiral modulated nematic phase, in which the measured value of the compression modulus is of the same order of magnitude as in achiral modulated nematics, even though the heliconical pitch is by an order of magnitude larger. The relaxation of a one-constant approximation in the biaxial elastic model used for chiral modulated nematics does not solve the problem. Therefore, we propose a structural model of the modulated nematic phase, which is consistent with the current experimental evidence and can also explain large compression modulus: the structure consists of short-range smectic clusters with a fourfold symmetry and periodicity of two molecular distances. In chiral systems, chiral interactions lead to a helicoidal structure of such clusters.

ORCID iDs

Vaupotič, Nataša, Curk, Samo, Osipov, Mikhail A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1836-1854, Čepič, Mojca, Takezoe, Hideo and Gorecka, Ewa;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:55776
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    12 February 2016
    Published
    27 January 2016
    Accepted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Mathematics and Statistics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:07 Mar 2016 13:18
    Last modified:11 Nov 2024 11:20
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/55776
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