Electroclinic effect in a chiral paranematic liquid-crystal layer above the bulk nematic-to-isotropic transition temperature

Ian R. Nemitz, Emmanuelle Lacaze, and Charles Rosenblatt
Phys. Rev. E 93, 022701 – Published 1 February 2016

Abstract

Electroclinic measurements are reported for two chiral liquid crystals above their bulk chiral isotropic–nematic phase transition temperatures. It is found that an applied electric field E induces a rotation θ [Ε] of the director in the very thin paranematic layers that are induced by the cell's two planar-aligning substrates. The magnitude of the electroclinic coefficient /dE close to the transition temperature is comparable to that of a bulk chiral nematic, as well as to that of a parasmectic region above a bulk isotropic-to-chiral smectic-A phase. However, /dE in the paranematic layer varies much more slowly with temperature than in the parasmectic phase, and its relaxation time is slower by more than three orders of magnitude than that of the bulk chiral nematic electroclinic effect.

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  • Received 1 December 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.93.022701

©2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Polymers & Soft Matter

Authors & Affiliations

Ian R. Nemitz1,2,3, Emmanuelle Lacaze2,3, and Charles Rosenblatt1

  • 1Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA
  • 2CNRS UMR 7588, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris (INSP), 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
  • 3UPMC Université Paris VI, UMR 7588, Institut des NanoSciences de Paris (INSP), 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France

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Issue

Vol. 93, Iss. 2 — February 2016

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