Tuning 'de Vries-like' properties in binary mixtures of liquid crystals with different molecular lengths.
Smectic liquid crystals with 'de Vries-like' properties are characterized by a maximum layer contraction of ≤1% upon transition from the orthogonal SmA phase to the tilted SmC phase. We show that binary mixtures of 'de Vries-like' and conventional SmC mesogens with a molecular length ratio of 1.34 undergo a SmA-SmC phase transition with a maximum layer contraction ranging from 1.0 to 1.9% depending on the mixture composition.
Department of Chemistry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Qingxiang
Q
Song
Andreas
A
Bogner
Frank
F
Giesselmann
Robert P
RP
Lemieux