Optical investigations on the biaxial smectic-A phase of a bent-core compound

S. T. Wang, X. F. Han, A. Cady, Z. Q. Liu, A. Kamenev, L. Glazman, B. K. Sadashiva, R. Amaranatha Reddy, and C. C. Huang
Phys. Rev. E 70, 061705 – Published 21 December 2004

Abstract

Several unique optical properties have been obtained from freestanding films of a bent-core compound. Our experimental results indicate the existence of the antiferroelectric biaxial smectic-A(SmA) phase. The critical exponent associated with the biaxiality through the uniaxial–antiferroelectric biaxial SmA transition has been measured to be 0.82±0.04, which is in good agreement with our theoretical calculation. Our theoretical advances further demonstrate that the critical behavior of the optical biaxiality with the order parameter being a vector is described by the secondary-order parameter of the three-dimensional XY model. We also observe a remarkable even–odd layering effect exhibited by the surface layers of freestanding films under an applied electric field (20Vcm) in the film plane.

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  • Received 25 September 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.70.061705

©2004 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

S. T. Wang1, X. F. Han1,*, A. Cady1,*, Z. Q. Liu1, A. Kamenev1, L. Glazman1, B. K. Sadashiva2, R. Amaranatha Reddy2, and C. C. Huang1

  • 1School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
  • 2Raman Research Institute, C. V. Raman Avenue, Bangalore 560080, India

  • *Present address: Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439.

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Vol. 70, Iss. 6 — December 2004

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