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.
School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
Daigo
D
Miyajima
Fumito
F
Araoka
Hideo
H
Takezoe
Jungeun
J
Kim
Kenichi
K
Kato
Masaki
M
Takata
Takuzo
T
Aida