title: Chirality-preserving growth of helical filaments in the B4 phase of bent-core liquid crystals.
abstract: The growth of helical filaments in the B4 liquid-crystal phase was investigated in mixtures of the bent-core and calamitic mesogens NOBOW and 8CB. Freezing-point depression led to nucleation of the NOBOW B4 phase directly from the isotropic phase in the mixtures, forming large left- and right-handed chiral domains that were easily observed in the microscope. We show that these domains are composed of homochiral helical filaments formed in a nucleation and growth process that starts from a nucleus of arbitrary chirality and continues with chirality-preserving growth of the filaments. A model that accounts for the observed local homochirality and phase coherence of the branched filaments is proposed. This model will help in providing a better understanding of the nature of the B4 phase and controlling its growth and morphology for applications, such as the use of the helical nanophase as a nanoheterogeneous medium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0390, United States.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Maclennan
authors.forename: Renfan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Dong Ki
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Korblova
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Walba
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Glaser
authors.forename: Noel A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Clark