title: Polarization studies of resonant forbidden reflections in liquid crystals.
abstract: 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}.
authors.affiliation: Université Bordeaux 1, CNRS, Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal, Avenue A. Schweitzer, 33600 Pessac, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barois
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Z Q
authors.initials: ZQ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: McCoy
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pindak
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Caliebe
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Nguyen