Twist Elasticity and Anchoring in a Lamellar Nematic Phase

Twist elasticity and anchoring in a lamellar nematic phase.

Electro-optic measurements were performed on a lamellar nematic phase in which the mesogenic moieties lie in lamellae that are separated by partially perfluorinated side groups. The twist elastic constant K22, viscosity gamma(1), and the quadratic and quartic anchoring strength coefficients are reported. K22 and gamma(1) are found to be considerably smaller than that of typical three-dimensiona...

Local distortion energy and coarse-grained elasticity of the twist-bend nematic phase.

The recently discovered twist-bend nematic phase of achiral bent-shaped molecules, NTB, has a doubly degenerate ground-state with a periodically modulated heliconical structure and unusual distortion elasticity, the theoretical description of which is still debated. We show that the NTB phase has the same macroscopic symmetry as another periodic mesophase, the chiral smectic-A, SmA*. Based on t...

Hierarchical elasticity of bimesogenic liquid crystals with twist-bend nematic phase

Nematic twist-bend phase with nanoscale modulation of molecular orientation

A state of matter in which molecules show a long-range orientational order and no positional order is called a nematic liquid crystal. The best known and most widely used (for example, in modern displays) is the uniaxial nematic, with the rod-like molecules aligned along a single axis, called the director. When the molecules are chiral, the director twists in space, drawing a right-angle helico...

Lyotropic lamellar phase doped with a nematic phase of magnetic nanorods.

We report the elaboration of a hybrid mesophase combining the lamellar order of a lyotropic system of nonionic surfactant and the nematic order of a concentrated solution of inorganic nanorods confined between the surfactant layers. Highly aligned samples of this mesophase can be obtained by thermal annealing, and the orientation of the nanorods is readily controlled with a magnetic field. High...