Liquid-crystal-solid interface structure at the antiferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transition.
Total internal reflection is used to probe the molecular organization at the surface of a tilted chiral smectic liquid crystal at temperatures in the vicinity of the bulk antiferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transition. Data are interpreted using an exact analytical solution of a real model for ferroelectric order at the surface. In the mixture T3, ferroelectric surface order is expelled with the bulk ferroelectric-antiferroelectric transition. The conditions for ferroelectric order at the surface of an antiferroelectric bulk are presented.
Coleman
D
D
Condensed Matter Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
Bardon
S
S
Radzihovsky
L
L
Danner
G
G
Clark
N A
NA