Nanoconfinement-induced structures in chiral liquid crystals.

Area of Science:

• Condensed Matter Physics
• Materials Science
• Computational Chemistry

Background:

• Chiral liquid crystals exhibit complex phase behaviors influenced by molecular structure.
• Understanding structure formation is crucial for designing advanced optical and electronic materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of molecular chirality on structure formation in confined chiral liquid crystals.
• To identify phase transitions and novel structural phases as a function of chirality.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Monte Carlo simulations in isothermal-isobaric and grand canonical ensembles.
• Employed a modified Lennard-Jones potential to model chiral interactions.
• Simulated liquid crystals confined between planar substrates with hybrid anchoring.

Main Results:

• Observed a transition from cholesteric phase at low chirality to blue phase II at higher chirality.
• Characterized blue phase II by analyzing unit cell and disclination line arrangements.
• Identified a novel hybrid phase with mixed cholesteric and blue phase characteristics under specific confinement and chirality conditions.

Conclusions:

• Molecular chirality is a key determinant of phase behavior in confined liquid crystals.
• The study elucidates the formation mechanisms of cholesteric, blue phase II, and a unique hybrid phase.
• Findings provide insights into the design of liquid crystal materials with tailored optical properties.