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Updated: Apr 12, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Unusual polarity-dependent patterns in a bent-core nematic liquid crystal under low-frequency ac field
Ying Xiang1, Meng-jie Zhou1, Ming-Ya Xu1
1School of Information Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Electric-field-induced patterns of diverse morphology have been observed over a wide frequency range in a recently synthesized bent-core nematic (BCN) liquid crystal. At low frequencies (up to ∼25 Hz), the BCN exhibited unusual polarity-dependent patterns. When the amplitude of the ac field was enhanced, these two time-asymmetrical patterns turned into time-symmetrical prewavylike stripes. At ac frequencies in the middle-frequency range (∼50-3000 Hz), zigzag patterns were detected whose obliqueness varied with the frequency. Finally, if the frequency was increased above 3 kHz, the zigzag pattern was replaced by another, prewavylike pattern, whose threshold voltage depended on the frequency; however, the wave vector did not. For a more complete characterization, material parameters such as elastic constants, dielectric permittivities, and the anisotropy of the diamagnetic susceptibility were also determined.
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