title: Cybotactic behavior in the de Vries smectic-A* liquid-crystal structure formed by a silicon-containing molecule.
abstract: We have identified a metastable liquid-crystal (LC) structure in the de Vries smectic-A* phase (de Vries Sm-A*) formed by silicon-containing molecules under certain boundary conditions. The phase transition with the metastable structure was observed in a LC droplet placed on a planar aligned substrate and LCs confined in the groove of a silicon microchannel. During the rapid cooling step, a batonnet structure was generated as an intermediate and metastable state prior to the transition that yielded the thermodynamically stable toric focal conic domains. This distinctive behavior was characterized using depolarized reflection light microscopy and grazing incidence x-ray diffraction techniques. We concluded that the silicon groups in the molecules that formed the de Vries phase induced the formation of layered clusters called cybotactic structures. This observation is relevant to an exploration of the physical properties of cybotactic de Vries phases and gives a hint as to their optoelectronic applications.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology and KINC, KAIST, Daejeon, 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seong Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.affiliation: Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH, Pohang, 790-784, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Tae Joo
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Yongqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Korblova
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Renfan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Walba
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Noel A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology and KINC, KAIST, Daejeon, 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Ki
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Yoon