title: Optical activity produced by layer chirality in bent-core liquid crystals.
abstract: Large optical activity has recently been observed in chiral smectic liquid crystalline phases formed from achiral bent-core molecules. The origin of the optical activity remains unclear and has been attributed to both a helical superstructure and the layer chirality produced by simultaneous tilt and polar ordering of bent-core mesogens in the B2 phase. Here, we directly demonstrate that layer chirality produces optical activity in the well ordered SmC(A)P(A) subphase.
authors.affiliation: LCMRC, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA.
authors.forename: Loren E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Hough
authors.forename: Chenhui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Michi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakata
authors.forename: Nattaporn
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chattham
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dantlgraber
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tschierske
authors.forename: Noel A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D013237:Stereoisomerism