Effect of enantiomeric excess on surface structures and phase sequences in free-standing liquid-crystal films.
We present differential optical reflectivity and null transmission ellipsometry data from several mixtures of MHPBC enantiomers. From this data, we have determined the chiral smectic phase sequence as a function of enantiomeric excess. The data suggest a change in the structure of the smectic-C(*)(alpha) phase and the surface tilt state as the enantiomeric excess is reduced. The results also show that the intermediate phases, smectic C(*)(FI2), smectic C(*)(FI1), and smectic C(*)(alpha), disappear sequentially on reducing the net chirality.
Cady
A
A
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Liu
Z Q
ZQ
Han
X F
XF
Wang
S T
ST
Veum
M
M
Janarthanan
N
N
Hsu
C S
CS
Olson
D A
DA
Huang
C C
CC