Isotropic to ferroelectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystals phase transitions

Abstract

This review is an attempt towards a unified picture of the direct transitions from the isotropic liquid to ferroelectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystalline phases formed by rod-like and bent-core molecules. The Landau–Ginzburg theories of the phase transitions between the isotropic liquid to ferroelectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystalline phases in compounds composed of chiral rod-like molecules and achiral bent-core molecules are presented. This includes a discussion of the nature of the order parameters and the nature of the various types of phase transitions. The various predictions are compared with the available experimental results.

Keywords:

• ferroelectric
• antiferroelectric
• liquid crystals
• phase transition

Acknowledgements

The author thanks A.K. Das for valuable discussions and assistance with the computations. Special thanks go to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for the equipment grant.