Nematic twist--bend phase in an external field
arXiv:1801.00027 · doi:10.1073/pnas.1721786115
Abstract
Nematic twist--bend is the fifth nematic phase recognized in nature. This phase exhibits spiral orientational order, thus it is a chiral structure and it can be stabilized in systems composed of achiral molecules. The microscopic origin of this spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking is to a large extent unknown but phenomenologically it appears stabilized by assuming coupling between steric polar and orientational orderings. Understanding of how external fields affect the stability of this phase is of great intellectual interest and of relevance to potential applications. Within mesoscopic Landau--de Gennes theory we find that for compounds with positive anisotropy the helix unwinds to a polar uniaxial nematic, however negative material anisotropy gives rise to a rich sequence of new nematic phases obtained via mechanism of flattening the conical spiral.
References in corpus (22)
- 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
- Electrically tunable selective reflection of light from ultraviolet to visible and infrared by heliconical cholesterics
- Twist-bend heliconical chiral nematic liquid crystal phase of an achiral rigid bent-core mesogen
- Resonant carbon K-edge soft x-ray scattering from lattice-free heliconical molecular ordering: soft dilative elasticity of the twist-bend liquid crystal phase
- Statistical mechanics of bend flexoelectricity and the twist-bend phase in bent-core liquid crystals
- Theory of Banana Liquid Crystal Phases and Phase Transitions
- Twist-bend nematic liquid crystals in high magnetic fields
- Elastic and viscous properties of nematic dimer CB7CB
- Stabilising the Blue Phases
- A Molecular Theory of the Nematic-Nematic Phase Transitions in Mesogenic Dimers
- Molecular organization in the twist-bend nematic phase by resonant X-ray scattering at the Se K-edge and by SAXS, WAXS and GIXRD
- Landau-deGennes Theory of Biaxial Nematics Re-examined
- Modulated nematic structures induced by chirality and steric polarization
- Electric field distortions in structures of the twist bend nematic (NTB) phase of a bent-core liquid crystal
- Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Bent-Core Liquid Crystals
- Anomalous increase in nematic-isotropic transition temperature in dimer molecules induced by magnetic field
- Twist-bend nematic phases of bent-shaped biaxial molecules
- Thermodynamics of Blue Phases In Electric Fields
- Comparative analysis of anisotropic material properties of uniaxial nematics formed by flexible dimers and rod-like monomers
- Fluctuation modes of a twist-bend nematic liquid crystal
- Flexoelectric blue phases
Cited by in corpus (11)
- Electric field distortions in structures of the twist bend nematic (NTB) phase of a bent-core liquid crystal
- Twist-bend nematic phase from Landau-de Gennes perspective
- Probing Molecular Ordering in the Nematic Phases of para-Linked Bimesogen Dimers through NMR Studies of Flexible Prochiral Solutes
- 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
- Geometry of Bend: Singular Lines and Defects in Twist-Bend Nematics
- Mechanochemical Topological Defects in an Active Nematic
- Conformational degrees of freedom and stability of splay-bend ordering in the limit of a very strong planar anchoring
- Nematic twist-bend phase of a bent liquid crystal dimer: field-induced deformations of the helical structure, macroscopic polarization and fast switching speeds
- Flexoelxctricity of the distorted twist bend nematic phase
- Confinement Reveals Hidden Splay-Bend Order in Twist-Bend Nematics