An investigation into the director structure in the electroclinic effect at the S_A-S_C* transition

Abstract

The director structure in the electroclinic effect has been investigated around the Smectic A-Smectic C phase transition in the material SCE13. The experimental method used utilises the wavelength dependence of light transmission through a liquid crystal cell, and the effects of a non-uniform structure on this dependence. The results suggest that some non-uniformity is present, and the structure observed at a temperature of 0.5 °C above the Smectic A-Smectic C* phase transition can be approximated to a boundary layer profile with boundary layers of 25 nm. It is suggested that an elastic model with infinite anchoring might describe the behaviour observed, and an elastic constant is determined to be K = 2 pN.

Keywords:

• electroclinic effect
• director structure
• elastic deformation