Polar Columnar and Tetrahedratic Phases

Selected Macroscopic Consequences of Tetrahedratic Order

We discuss for tetrahedratic phases a number of cross-coupling terms not considered before and we analyse their macroscopic physical consequences. In particular we show that if a tetrahedratic phase is acted on by an electric field that is perpendicular to a temperature gradient, an electric current perpendicular to both forces results. We also demonstrate that spatial variations of the tetrahe...

Tetrahedratic mesophases, chiral order, and helical domains induced by quadrupolar and octupolar interactions.

We present an exhaustive account of phases and phase transitions that can be stabilized in the recently introduced generalized Lebwohl-Lasher model with quadrupolar and octupolar microscopic interactions [L. Longa, G. Pająk, and T. Wydro, Phys. Rev. E 79, 040701(R) (2009)]. A complete mean-field analysis of the model, along with Monte Carlo simulations allows us to identify four distinct classe...

Chiral symmetry breaking in bent-core liquid crystals.

By molecular modeling we demonstrate that the nematic long-range order discovered in bent-core liquid-crystal systems should reveal further spatially homogeneous phases. Two of them are identified as a tetrahedratic nematic (N_{T}) phase with D_{2d} symmetry and a chiral tetrahedratic nematic (N_{T};{ *}) phase with D2 symmetry. These phases were found for a lattice model with quadrupolar and o...

Polar Columnar and Tetrahedrati Phases : The B 7 Phase and

Symmetries and physical properties of polar columnar phases in materials composed of achiral molecules

– Motivated by puzzling experimental observations made in compounds composed of banana-shaped molecules, we investigate the symmetries and the physical properties of liquid crystalline columnar phases with a macroscopic polarization in achiral materials. This study is driven by two key observations made for the still poorly understood B7 phase: a) freely suspended films decompose spontaneously ...