| Issue |
EPL
Volume 120, Number 5, December 2017
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 56001 | |
| Number of page(s) | 5 | |
| Section | Condensed Matter: Structural, Mechanical and Thermal Properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/120/56001 | |
| Published online | 21 February 2018 | |
Softening of twist elasticity in the swollen smectic C liquid crystal
1 Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University - Kita-Shirakawa, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
2 DIC Corporation - Komuro, Ina-machi, Kitaadachi-gun, Saitama 362-8577, Japan
3 Japan Science and Technology Agency, CREST - Kawaguchi, Saitama 332-0012, Japan
(a) k_hata@scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Received: 11 October 2017
Accepted: 26 January 2018
We investigated the swelling effect in the thermotropic smectic C liquid crystal phase by dilution of the solvent. We found that the twist elastic constant monotonically decreases with increasing swelling ratio, eventually becoming an order of magnitude smaller than its original value at the swelling limit. Our conclusion is that intercalated solvent molecules prevent direct collisions between liquid crystal molecules, which weakens the steric interaction to produce the orientation order across the smectic layers. This is the main mechanism for the softening of the twist elastic constant upon swelling.
PACS: 61.30.-v – Liquid crystals / 61.30.Eb – Experimental determinations of smectic, nematic, cholesteric, and other structures / 42.70.Df – Liquid crystals
© EPLA, 2018
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