Shape model for ordering properties of molecular dopants inducing chiral mesophases

Abstract

An extension to chiral phases of a model derived previously to interpret orientational properties in liquid crystal solvents of molecules with arbitrary shape leads, quite naturally, to the definition of a traceless chirality tensor, useful for predicting the structures of twisted nematics induced by chiral solutes. The magnitude and handedness of the helical pitch in the induced chiral phase depend on the interplay of the chirality tensor components and the ordering of the different axes of the chiral probe in a given nematic solvent. The effect of changing the molecular structure of the solute and the temperature is discussed for a number of typical dopants, including biphenyl, binaphthyl and heptalene derivatives. Although the model has been derived in a form suitable for application to induced cholesteric structures, it contains the basic ingredients to account for the physical behaviour of chiral smectic-C* mesophases.