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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites
Published on: February 6, 2016
Effect of enantiomeric excess on surface structures and phase sequences in free-standing liquid-crystal films
1School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
Abstract:
We present differential optical reflectivity and null transmission ellipsometry data from several mixtures of MHPBC enantiomers. From this data, we have determined the chiral smectic phase sequence as a function of enantiomeric excess. The data suggest a change in the structure of the smectic-C(*)(alpha) phase and the surface tilt state as the enantiomeric excess is reduced. The results also show that the intermediate phases, smectic C(*)(FI2), smectic C(*)(FI1), and smectic C(*)(alpha), disappear sequentially on reducing the net chirality.
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