Chiral-racemic phase diagram of a ferroelectric liquid crystal with high spontaneous polarization

Abstract

The ferroelectric properties in a chiral-racemic system of a liquid crystal with high spontaneous polarization are investigated by studying the spontaneous polarization in the SmC*-phase, the dielectric permittivity and the field induced tilt angle in the SmA-phase, and the SmC*-SmA transition temperature as a function of the enantiomeric excess. The results are compared with a simple Landau description of the SmC*-SmA transition. For the coupling between tilt angle and polarization a linear variation with the enantiomeric excess is found.