Development of polar order in liquid crystalline phases of a banana compound with a unique sequence of three orthogonal phases

摘要

Alkyl substituted 4-cyanoresorcinol 1,3-bisbenzoates with terephthalate based rod-like wings show a series of three orthogonal smectic phases SmA-SmAP_R-SmAP_A.rnLiquid crystalline (LC) materials with a bent molecular shape (banana-molecules) represent a fascinating area in soft matter science, providing new supramolecular structures, phenomena and properties, unknown for other materials. Among them there is the formation of macroscopic chirality by spontaneous symmetry breaking in fluids composed of achiral molecules and a series of new types of polar (ferroelectric, antiferroelectric) switching LC phases which are of interest for electro-optical and non-linear optical devices.