Polarization studies of resonant forbidden reflections in liquid crystals.
We report the results of resonant x-ray diffraction experiments performed on thick films of a biaxial liquid crystal made of achiral bent-core molecules. Polarization properties of forbidden reflections are observed as a function of the sample rotation angle phi about the scattering vector Q for the first time on a fluid material. The experimental data are successfully analyzed within a tensor structure factor model by taking the nonperfect alignment of the liquid crystal into account. The local structure of the B2 mesophase is hence determined to be SmC_{S}P_{A}.
Fernandes
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Université Bordeaux 1, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, Avenue A. Schweitzer, 33600 Pessac, France.
Barois
P
P
Wang
S T
ST
Liu
Z Q
ZQ
McCoy
B K
BK
Huang
C C
CC
Pindak
R
R
Caliebe
W
W
Nguyen
H T
HT