title: Field-induced phase transitions in antiferroelectric liquid crystals.
abstract: A theoretical study is made of the process by which an antiferroelectric smectic liquid crystal undergoes a field-induced transition to ferroelectric alignment. We find that for cells of moderate thickness the initial departure from antiferroelectric alignment occurs as a continuous Fréedericksz transition. The following transition from partial alignment to complete ferroelectric ordering may occur as either a first-order or continuous transition, depending on the relative strength of some of the model parameters. The case where the transition is continuous provides a possible mechanism for some recently observed thresholdless transitions in these systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Taylor