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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Alternating twist structures formed by electroconvection in the nematic phase of an achiral bent-core molecule
Shingo Tanaka1, Surajit Dhara, B K Sadashiva
1Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, O-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
We report an unusual electroconvection in the nematic phase of a bent-core liquid crystal. In a voltage-frequency diagram, two frequency regions exhibiting prewavy stripe patterns were found, as reported by Wiant We found that these stripes never show extinction dark when cells were rotated under crossed polarizers. Based on the color interchange in between neighboring stripes by the rotation of the cells or an analyzer, twisted molecular orientation is suggested; i.e., the directors are alternately twisted from the top to the bottom surfaces with a pretilt angle in adjacent stripes, which is an analogue of the twisted (splayed) structure observed in surface-stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells. The transmittance spectra calculated using the 4x4 matrix method from the model structure are consistent with the experimental observation.
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