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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Spontaneous periodic deformations in nonchiral planar-aligned bimesogens with a nematic-nematic transition and a
V P Panov1, M Nagaraj, J K Vij
1Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Trinity College, University of Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Abstract:
Hydrocarbon linked mesogenic dimers are found to exhibit an additional nematic phase below the conventional uniaxial nematic phase as confirmed by x-ray diffraction. The phase produces unusual periodic stripe domains in planar cells. The stripes are found to be parallel to the rubbing direction (in rubbed cells) with a well-defined period equal to double the cell gap. The stripes appear without external electromagnetic field, temperature or thickness gradients, rubbing or hybrid alignment treatments. Simple modeling proposes a negative sign for at least one of the two elastic constants: splay and twist, as a necessary condition for the observed pattern.
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