Structural properties of the ferrielectric phases of a chiral liquid crystal revealed by dynamic light scattering.
Dynamic light scattering is used to study the antiferro- and ferrielectric phases in a bulk sample of the chiral liquid crystal R-10OTBBB1M7. Comparison of the detected fluctuation modes in the two ferriphases to calculated selection rules for their coupling to light are consistent with the distorted clock structures recently reported by an optical ellipsometry study, but indicate that the distortion has a polar component in both ferriphases. We also find a surprisingly large amplitude and dispersion associated with scattering from fluctuations in the tilt angle magnitude. In terms of the discrete interlayer interaction models currently being used to account for the ferriphases, this finding suggests that the interlayer interaction coefficients are of comparable magnitude to the intralayer coefficients that stabilize the tilt angle.
Konovalov
D
D
Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
Nguyen
H T
HT
Copic
M
M
Sprunt
S
S