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Updated: May 22, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Topological ferroelectric bistability in a polarization-modulated orthogonal smectic liquid crystal
Chenhui Zhu1, Renfan Shao, R Amaranatha Reddy
1Department of Physics and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA.
Abstract:
We report a bent-core liquid crystal (LC) compound exhibiting two fluid smectic phases in which two-dimensional, polar, orthorhombic layers order into three-dimensional ferroelectric states. The lower-temperature phase has a uniform polarization field which responds in an analog fashion to applied electric field. The higher-temperature phase is a new smectic state with periodic undulation of the polarization, structurally modulated layers, and a bistable response to applied electric field which originates in the periodically splay-modulated bulk of the LC rather than by surface stabilization at the cell boundaries.
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