Columnar liquid crystal with a spontaneous polarization along the columnar axis.
A fan-shaped molecule (2), carrying hydrogen-bonding amide groups in proximity to its polar aromatic core, self-assembles into a columnar liquid crystalline mesophase, which unprecedentedly possesses a spontaneous macroscopic polarization along the columnar axis. Due to its polar nature, the mesophase displays a signal of second harmonic generation (SHG), which disappears on phase transition to an isotropic melt and then retrieves its original intensity on subsequent cooling.
Miyajima
Daigo
D
School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
Araoka
Fumito
F
Takezoe
Hideo
H
Kim
Jungeun
J
Kato
Kenichi
K
Takata
Masaki
M
Aida
Takuzo
T