Nanomaterials logo

Liquid Crystals and their Application
Russian Journal

Zhidkie kristally i ikh prakticheskoe ispol'zovanie

Жидкие кристаллы и их практическое использование

IvSU logo
Rus Eng

Menu

Our Facebook account

SCImago Journal & Country Rank

Journal



Zhidk. krist. ikh prakt. ispol'z. = Liq. Cryst. and their Appl., 2015, 15 (1), 22—27.





Boundaries Induced Helix Uncoiling in Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals



A. V. Kaznacheev

Author affiliations
A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
28 Vavilov St., Moscow, 119991, Russia
E-mail: kazna@ineos.ac.ru

Abstract
Theoretical model of boundaries induced helix uncoiling and deformation in ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) is presented. The model is based on an assumption (that was experimentally proven in previous work) that intralayer elastic constants are rather large. This, in turn, results in an undistorted director field of smectic phase in thin cells. The analytical solution becomes possible within these approximations. The expression for the critical thickness of FLC layer (dc) that results in uncoiling ferroelectric liquid crystal is obtained. It is shown that this critical thickness is proportional to anchoring energy and squared helical pitch. Thus, the smectic compounds with helical pitch of about few microns become the most desirable objects for experimental studies. In this case, the experimental data for critical thickness must also be of the order of few microns.

Keywords: ferroelectric liquid crystal, anchoring energy, uncoiling of helical pitch, critical thickness





Feedback webmaster