Abstract
The smectic liquid crystal phases formed by 3-fluoro-4- octyloxyphenyl 4-(5-octyl-2-thienyl) benzoate (I) have been investigated by thermal optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and x-ray diffraction. The phase sequence SA-SC-S3-SE is observed on cooling the isotropic liquid. The S3 phase is structurally similar to an SA phase and hence corresponds to a third smectic phase with unstructured layers.