Chiral symmetry breaking in bent-core liquid crystals.
By molecular modeling we demonstrate that the nematic long-range order discovered in bent-core liquid-crystal systems should reveal further spatially homogeneous phases. Two of them are identified as a tetrahedratic nematic (N_{T}) phase with D_{2d} symmetry and a chiral tetrahedratic nematic (N_{T};{ *}) phase with D2 symmetry. These phases were found for a lattice model with quadrupolar and octupolar anisotropic interactions using mean-field theory and Monte Carlo simulations. The phase diagrams exhibit tetrahedratic (T) , N_{T} , and N_{T};{ *} phases, in addition to ordinary isotropic (I) , uniaxial nematic (N_{U}) , and biaxial nematic (N_{B}) phases.
Longa
Lech
L
Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Department of Statistical Physics and Mark Kac Center for Complex Systems Research, Jagiellonian University, Reymonta 4, Kraków, Poland. lech.longa@uj.edu.pl
Pajak
Grzegorz
G
Wydro
Thomas
T