Dielectric and electrooptical study of a new antiferroelectric liquid crystal with the thiobenzoate group

Abstract

A new thiobenzoate compound exhibits polar phases SmC_α*, ferroelectric SmC*, ferrielectric SmC* and antiferroelectric SmC*_γ. From the electrooptic intensity and the permittivity measured in the frequency range 10 ÷ 10⁶ Hz the soft mode relaxation frequency in the paraelectric SmA phase and the Goldstone mode relaxation frequency in the polar phases have been determined. In the polar phases the temperature dependences of both the spontaneous polarizarion and the tilt angle are measured under an electric field high enough to bring about the saturated ferroelectric state. The dependencies are smooth within the entire temperature range studied indicating all the studied phases are indistinguishable under high electric field.