The elastic behaviour of liquid crystal dimers: an ESR investigation of their induced chiral nematic phases

Abstract

We have attempted to investigate the dependence of the elastic behaviour of liquid crystal dimers on the parity of the spacer linking the two mesogenic groups by using an indirect method. In this the nematic phase formed by the dimers is converted to a chiral nematic by the addition of a chiral dopant. The uniform distribution of the director in the helical structure of the mesosphase is perturbed by the magnetic field of an ESR spectrometer. The extent of the field-induced perturbation is then determined from the appearance of the ESR spectrum of a nitroxide spin probe dissolved in the mesophase. The observed difference in the extent of the field-induced perturbation is analysed in terms of the higher orientational order of the even with respect to the odd dimer. However, the theoretical model fails to account for this difference in behaviour and a possible explanation is discussed.