Chiral and antichiral order in bent-core liquid crystals. 2003

Jonathan V Selinger
Center for Bio/Molecular Science and Engineering, Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6900, 4555 Overlook Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20375, USA.

Recent experiments have found a bent-core liquid crystal in which the layer chirality alternates from layer to layer, giving a racemic or "antichiral" material, even though the molecules are uniformly chiral. To explain this effect, we map the liquid crystal onto an Ising model, analogous to a model for chiral order in polymers. We calculate the phase diagram for this model and show that it has a second-order phase transition between antichiral order and homogeneous chiral order. We discuss how this transition can be studied by further chemical synthesis or by doping experiments.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

Jonathan V Selinger
April 2009, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics,
Jonathan V Selinger
February 2017, Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP,
Jonathan V Selinger
June 2008, Chemical communications (Cambridge, England),
Jonathan V Selinger
June 2015, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics,
Jonathan V Selinger
July 2004, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics,
Jonathan V Selinger
July 2013, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics,
Jonathan V Selinger
October 2006, Physical review letters,
Jonathan V Selinger
May 2014, Chemphyschem : a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry,
Jonathan V Selinger
December 2008, Physical review letters,
Copied contents to your clipboard!