Light scattering study of the "pseudo-layer" compression elastic constant in a twist-bend nematic liquid crystal

Abstract

The nematic twist-bend (TB) phase, exhibited by certain achiral thermotropic liquid crystalline (LC) dimers, features a nanometer-scale, heliconical rotation of the average molecular long axis (director) with equally probable left- and right-handed domains. On meso to macroscopic scales, the TB phase may be considered as a stack of equivalent slabs or "pseudo-layers", each one helical pitch in thickness. The long wavelength fluctuation modes should then be analogous to those of a smectic-A phase, and in particular the hydrodynamic mode combining "layer" compression and bending ought to be characterized by an effective layer compression elastic constant $B_{eff}$ and average director splay constant $K_1^{eff}$. The magnitude of $K_1^{eff}$ is expected to be similar to the splay constant of an ordinary nematic LC, but due to the absence of a true mass density wave, $B_{eff}$ could differ substantially from the typical value of $\sim 10^6$ Pa in a conventional smectic-A. Here we report the results of a dynamic light scattering study, which confirms the "pseudo-layer" structure of the TB phase with $B_{eff}$ in the range $\sim 10^3-10^4$ Pa. We show additionally that the temperature dependence of $B_{eff}$ at the TB to nematic transition is accurately described by a coarse-grained free energy density, which is based on a Landau-deGennes expansion in terms of a heli-polar order parameter that characterizes the TB state and is linearly coupled to bend distortion of the director.

arXiv comment9 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (8)

• Nematic twist-bend phase with nanoscale modulation of molecular orientation
• A Twist-Bend Chiral Helix of 8nm Pitch in a Nematic Liquid Crystal of Achiral Molecular Dimers
• Twist-bend heliconical chiral nematic liquid crystal phase of an achiral rigid bent-core mesogen
• Statistical mechanics of bend flexoelectricity and the twist-bend phase in bent-core liquid crystals
• Twist-bend nematic liquid crystals in high magnetic fields
• Landau theory for helical nematic phases
• Nonlinear smectic elasticity of a helical state in cholesterics and helimagnets
• Layer dynamics of a freely standing smectic-A film

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Soft modes of the dielectric response in the twist-bend nematic phase and identification of the transition to nematic splay bend phase in the dimer CBC7CB
• Smectic-like rheology and pseudo-layer compression elastic constant of a twist-bend nematic liquid crystal
• Helix alignment, chevrons, and edge dislocations in twist-bend ferroelectric nematics