Modulated structures in bent-core liquid crystals: two faces of one phase.
The Landau-de Gennes type continuous model is used to describe the 2D modulated structures made of bent-core liquid crystals. It is shown that modulation is a direct consequence of the chiral symmetry breaking. Structures with synclinic and anticlinic layer tilt are found to coexist in the polarization modulated and layer undulated (PM-LU) liquid crystal phase. The synclinic PM-LU structure corresponds to the columnar B(1RevTilted) phase. Experimentally obtained electron density maps are included, which support theoretical findings.
Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.
Natasa
N
Vaupotic
Martin
M
Copic
Ewa
E
Gorecka
Damian
D
Pociecha