title: Leaning-type polar smectic-C phase in a freely suspended bent-core liquid crystal film.
abstract: A rich variety of responsive behavior occurs in complex structured fluids due to their lower symmetries. On the other hand, fluid disorder tends to increase the symmetry of liquid crystal mesophases. Here, we report direct evidence for the existence of a mesophase with CS symmetry. The observations are based on optical studies of director inversion walls in freely suspended films in electric fields under obliquely incident light. This phase is distinguished by the polarization lying in the molecular tilt plane in freely suspended films. Such a low-symmetry polar fluid phase has been long predicted to occur in bent-core liquid crystals. The stability of this phase is attributed to the bent shape of the mesogens and dominating dispersion interactions.
authors: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.|Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.
authors: Nattaporn
authors: N
authors: Chattham
authors: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors: Maria-Gabriela
authors: MG
authors: Tamba
authors: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors: Ralf
authors: R
authors: Stannarius
authors: Institute of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Strasse 2, 06120 Halle, Germany.|Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-900 Florianópolis, Brazil.
authors: Eduard
authors: E
authors: Westphal
authors: Department of Chemistry, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-900 Florianópolis, Brazil.
authors: Hugo
authors: H
authors: Gallardo
authors: Institute of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Strasse 2, 06120 Halle, Germany.
authors: Marko
authors: M
authors: Prehm
authors: Institute of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Strasse 2, 06120 Halle, Germany.
authors: Carsten
authors: C
authors: Tschierske
authors: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors: Hideo
authors: H
authors: Takezoe
authors: Department of Nonlinear Phenomena, Institute for Experimental Physics, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors: Alexey
authors: A
authors: Eremin