Polarization Studies of Resonant Forbidden Reflections in Liquid Crystals

Journal Article · Fri Nov 30 00:00:00 EST 2007 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.99.227801· OSTI ID:21024520

Fernandes, P; Barois, P; Nguyen, H T ^[1]; Wang, S T; Liu, Z Q; McCoy, B K; Huang, C C ^[2]; Pindak, R; Caliebe, W ^[3]

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1. Universite Bordeaux 1, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, Avenue A. Schweitzer, 33600 Pessac (France)
2. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (United States)
3. Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Synchrotron Light Source, Upton, New York 11973 (United States)

We report the results of resonant x-ray diffraction experiments performed on thick films of a biaxial liquid crystal made of achiral bent-core molecules. Polarization properties of forbidden reflections are observed as a function of the sample rotation angle {phi} about the scattering vector Q for the first time on a fluid material. The experimental data are successfully analyzed within a tensor structure factor model by taking the nonperfect alignment of the liquid crystal into account. The local structure of the B{sub 2} mesophase is hence determined to be SmC{sub S}P{sub A}.

• OSTI ID: 21024520
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 99, Issue 22; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.227801; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
FILMS
LIQUID CRYSTALS
POLARIZATION
REFLECTION
ROTATION
STRUCTURE FACTORS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION