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Updated: Jun 6, 2025

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Nematic and Smectic Phases with Proper Ferroelectric Order
Grant J Strachan1, Ewa Górecka1, Jadwiga Szydłowska1
1Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Zwirki i Wigury 101, Warsaw, 02-089, Poland.
Abstract:
A material showing a sequence of three ferroelectric liquid crystalline phases below the paraelectric nematic phase is synthesized and studied. The polar order of molecules appearing due to the dipole-dipole interactions in the ferroelectric nematic, NF, phase is preserved also in the smectic phases: orthogonal SmAF and tilted SmCF. The ferroelectric ground state of both smectic phases is confirmed by their second harmonic generation (SHG) activity and polarization switching. In the SmCF phase the polarization becomes oriented to the electric field by decreasing the tilt angle to zero. Although both smectic phases are ferroelectric in nature, their dielectric response is found to be very different.
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