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Updated: Oct 24, 2025

Using Microwave and Macroscopic Samples of Dielectric Solids to Study the Photonic Properties of Disordered Photonic Bandgap Materials
Published on: September 26, 2014
Photonic Bandgap in Achiral Liquid Crystals-A Twist on a Twist
Damian Pociecha1, Nataša Vaupotič2,3, Magdalena Majewska1
1Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Zwirki i Wigury 101, Warsaw, 02-089, Poland.
Abstract:
Achiral mesogenic molecules are shown to be able to spontaneously assemble into liquid crystalline smectic phases having either simple or double-helical structures. At the transition between these phases, the double-helical structure unwinds. As a consequence, in some temperature range, the pitch of the helix becomes comparable to the wavelength of visible light and the selective reflection of light in the visible range is observed. The photonic bandgap phenomenon is reported for achiral liquid crystals.
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