title: A Twist-Bend Nematic (NTB ) Phase of Chiral Materials.
abstract: New chiral dimers consisting of a rod-like and cholesterol mesogenic units are reported to form a chiral twist-bend nematic phase (NTB *) with heliconical structure. The compressibility of the NTB phase made of bent dimers was found to be as large as in smectic phases, which is consistent with the nanoperiodic structure of the NTB phase. The atomic force microscopy observations in chiral bent dimers revealed a periodicity of about 50 nm, which is significantly larger than the one reported previously for non-chiral compounds (ca. 10 nm).
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Warsaw University ul. Zwirki i Wigury 101, 02-089 Warsaw (Poland). gorecka@chem.uw.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gorecka
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroška 160, Maribor (Slovenia).|Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana (Slovenia).
authors.forename: Nataša
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vaupotič
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Warsaw University ul. Zwirki i Wigury 101, 02-089 Warsaw (Poland).
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zep
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Warsaw University ul. Zwirki i Wigury 101, 02-089 Warsaw (Poland).
authors.forename: Damian
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pociecha
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Applied Physics, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo169-8555 (Japan).
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawaoiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502 (Japan).
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Warsaw University ul. Zwirki i Wigury 101, 02-089 Warsaw (Poland).|Toyota Physical and Chemical Research Institute, 41-1, Yokomichi, Nagakute, Aichi 480-1192 (Japan).
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takezoe
keywords: X-ray diffraction; atomic force microscopy; chirality; liquid crystals; spontaneous symmetry breaking