Observation of a uniaxial ferroelectric smectic A phase

Chen, Xi; Martinez, Vikina; Nacke, Pierre; Korblova, Eva; Manabe, Atsutaka; Klasen-Memmer, Melanie; Freychet, Guillaume; Zhernenkov, Mikhail; Glaser, Matthew A.; Radzihovsky, Leo; Maclennan, Joseph E.; Walba, David M.; Bremer, Matthias; Giesselmann, Frank; Clark, Noel A.

doi:10.1073/pnas.2210062119

Observation of a uniaxial ferroelectric smectic A phase

Journal Article · Mon Nov 14 00:00:00 EST 2022 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210062119· OSTI ID:1898185

^[1]; Martinez, Vikina ^[1]; Nacke, Pierre ^[2]; ^[1]; Manabe, Atsutaka ^[3]; Klasen-Memmer, Melanie ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[4]; ^[1]; Radzihovsky, Leo ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]; Bremer, Matthias ^[3]; ^[2]; Clark, Noel A. ^[1]

Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Univ. of Stuttgart (Germany)
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt (Germany)
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)

We report the observation of the smectic A_F, a liquid crystal phase of the ferroelectric nematic realm. The smectic A_F is a phase of small polar, rod-shaped molecules that form two-dimensional fluid layers spaced by approximately the mean molecular length. The phase is uniaxial, with the molecular director, the local average long-axis orientation, normal to the layer planes, and ferroelectric, with a spontaneous electric polarization parallel to the director. Polarization measurements indicate almost complete polar ordering of the ∼10 Debye longitudinal molecular dipoles, and hysteretic polarization reversal with a coercive field ∼2 × 10⁵ V/m is observed. The SmAF phase appears upon cooling in two binary mixtures of partially fluorinated mesogens: 2N/DIO, exhibiting a nematic (N)–smectic Z_A (SmZ_A)–ferroelectric nematic (N_F)–SmA_F phase sequence, and 7N/DIO, exhibiting an N–SmZ_A–SmA_F phase sequence. The latter presents an opportunity to study a transition between two smectic phases having orthogonal systems of layers.

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Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 1898185

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2425491

Journal Information:: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Issue: 47 Vol. 119; ISSN 1091-6490; ISSN 0027-8424

Publisher:: National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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