Tilted and helical columnar phases for an axially symmetric discoidal system

We report novel phase behavior for a system of disclike ellipsoidal particles interacting via a pair potential. We identify a structural phase transition between two hexagonal columnar phases, both tilted, induced by spatial ordering of the tilt about the columnar axis and positional correlations between neighboring columns upon cooling. The local minima of the potential energy surface support irregular helical arrangements of the discoids about the columnar axis for the high-temperature hexagonal columnar phase, and a tilted arrangement for both phases. Our study demonstrates that dispersion-repulsion forces corresponding to oblate ellipsoids are sufficient to produce a columnar phase that is tilted and helical.