title: Bilayer-by-bilayer antiferroelectric ordering in freely suspended films of an achiral polymer-monomer liquid crystal mixture
abstract: Thin freely suspended films of a mixture of an achiral side-chain liquid crystal polymer and its monomer have been studied with depolarized reflected light microscopy. We observe that regions with an odd number of bilayers exhibit a net spontaneous polarization in the tilt plane of the molecules, while regions with an even number of bilayers have no net polarization. These odd-even effects are direct evidence that the tilted smectic bilayers are anticlinic at the polymer backbone and synclinic at bilayer interface and confirm that the phase is bilayer-by-bilayer antiferroelectric.
authors.affiliation: Condensed Matter Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Link
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Ostrovskii
authors.lastname: Soto Bustamante EA