The interplay between spatial and heliconical orientational order in twist-bend nematic materials

Saha, R.; Feng, C.; Welch, C.; Mehl, G. H.; Feng, J.; Zhu, C.; Gleeson, J.; Sprunt, S.; Jákli, A.

doi:10.1039/d0cp06633h

The interplay between spatial and heliconical orientational order in twist-bend nematic materials

Journal Article · Wed Feb 03 00:00:00 EST 2021 · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. PCCP

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/d0cp06633h· OSTI ID:1838634

^[1]; Feng, C. ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[3]; Feng, J. ^[4]; ^[4]; Gleeson, J. ^[1]; ^[5]; ^[6]

Kent State Univ., Kent, OH (United States)
Kent State Univ., Kent, OH (United States). Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source
Univ. of Hull (United Kingdom)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
Kent State Univ., Kent, OH (United States); Kent State Univ., Kent, OH (United States). Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute
Kent State Univ., Kent, OH (United States). Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute; Kent State Univ., Kent, OH (United States)

The helical pitch formed by organic molecules, such as the α-helix of proteins, usually requires hydrogen bonding between chiral units and long-range positional order. It was recently found that certain liquid crystal oligomers can have a twist-bend nematic (NTB) phase with nanoscale heliconical structure without hydrogen bonding, molecular chirality or positional order. To understand the nature of this unique structure, here we present hard and resonant tender X-ray scattering studies of two novel sulfur containing dimer materials. We simultaneously measure the temperature dependences of the helical pitch and the correlation length of both the helical and positional order. In addition to an unexpected strong variation of the pitch with the length of the spacer connecting the monomer units, we find that at the transition to the NTB phase the positional correlation length drops. Additionally, the helical structure was found not only in the NTB phase but observed even in the upper range of a smectic phase that forms just below the NTB state. The coexistence of smectic layering and the heliconical order indicates a layered (SmATB) phase wherein the rigid units of the dimers are tilted with respect to the smectic layer normal in order to accommodate the bent conformation of the dimers and the tilt direction rotates along the heliconical axis.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: EPSRC; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1838634

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1765918

Journal Information:: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. PCCP, Journal Name: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. PCCP Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 23; ISSN 1463-9076

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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