Electric field effects on N–Sm-A–Sm-C phase transitions

D.C.S. de Melo, E.J.L. de Oliveira, L.R. Evangelista, Maria S.S. Pereira and I.N. de Oliveira

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2023, vol. 630, issue C

Abstract: A liquid crystalline system formed by rod-shaped molecules that have a small transverse dipole moment is analyzed in the presence of an external electric field normal to the smectic layers. The approach focuses on the phase transition diagram displaying the N–Sm–A-Sm-C phases, when both negative and positive dielectric anisotropies are considered. The analysis is carried out within the framework of an extended mean field theory, which shows the emergence of a re-entrant Sm-C phase in the strong field regime, accompanied by a suppression of the translational ordering of the Sm-A phase, in the case of a negative anisotropy. A different scenario is observed in the case of positive anisotropy, as the electric field tends to suppress the Sm-C phase because the molecular alignment is driven by the field along its direction. In this case, the emergence of a residual nematic phase is also observed, which replaces the isotropic phase and is characterized by a low-value orientational order parameter.

Keywords: Smectic liquid crystals; Phase transitions; Electric field; Phase diagram; Electroclinic effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:630:y:2023:i:c:s037843712300818x

DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2023.129263

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