Possible mechanisms of polar order in 2D systems of banana type liquid crystals

abstract

The most popular type of smectic order in 2D systems of boomerang particles is that of the antiferrolectric type. Polar order, if encountered at all, is realized for high values of packing fractions. Introducing external fields or considering mixtures with fixed unequal numbers of particles of different polarity seems to be a natural way to induce polar order. To what extent these factors may influence the overall ferroelectric properties of the slim and fat 2D boomerangs have been examined here with the density functional theory of the Onsager type for totally aligned particles.

Funding

This work was supported by Grant No. DEC-2013/11/B/ST3/04247 of the National Science Centre in Poland.