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Updated: Apr 7, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Electroclinic effect in a chiral carbosilane-terminated 5-phenylpyrimidine liquid crystal with 'de Vries-like'
Christopher P J Schubert1, Carsten Müller, Michael D Wand
1Chemistry Department, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. rplemieux@uwaterloo.ca.
Abstract:
The chiral carbosilane-terminated liquid crystal 2-[(2S,3S)-2,3-difluorohexyloxy]-5-[4-(12,12,14,14,16,16-hexamethyl-12,14,16-trisilaheptadecyloxy)phenyl]pyrimidine () undergoes a smectic A*-smectic C* phase transition with a maximum layer contraction of only 0.2%. It exhibits an electroclinic effect (ECE) comparable to that reported for the 'de Vries-like' liquid crystal and shows no appreciable optical stripe defects due to horizontal chevron formation.
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