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Updated: Jul 14, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Conformational distribution of a ferroelectric liquid crystal revealed using fingerprint vibrational spectroscopy and
R Korlacki1, M Steiner, A J Meixner
1Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Abstract:
The authors have investigated the conformational structure of the ferroelectric liquid crystal compound 4-3-methyl-2-chloropentanoyloxy-4"-hexyloxy-biphenyl also known under the abbreviations 3M2CPHOB and C6 using vibrational (IR and Raman) spectroscopy. The measured spectra exhibit two bands corresponding to the C=O stretching vibration that are separated by 20 cm(-1). In contrast, the molecular structure comprises only one such group. They assigned the two bands to different conformers that coexist in a temperature range between 25 and 65 degrees C covering the entire mesophase of this material. This assignment is strongly confirmed by calculated vibrational spectra based on the density functional theory.
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