Nanostructures of liquid crystal phases in mixtures of bent-core and rod-shaped molecules.

Splay-bend elasticity and rotational viscosity of liquid crystal mixtures of rod-like and bent-core molecules

We report temperature dependent measurements of birefringence (Dn), splay (K11), bend (K33) elastic constants and rotational viscosity (g1) of mixtures of rod-like and bent-core molecules. K11 and Dn remain almost constant for all the mixtures whereas K33 is always lower than K11 and further decreases with increasing concentration of bent-core molecules in the mixtures. Apart from the large jum...

Tetrahedratic cross-couplings: novel physics for banana liquid crystals

Liquid crystal phases (LCs) formed by achiral bent-core molecules (banana LCs) are distinguishable from those of their classical (i.e., rod/disc-shaped) counterparts with only quadrupolar order. We argue that the interplay between tetrahedratic (octupolar) and quadrupolar order clarifies the physics of banana LCs sufficiently to account for two effects only observed in achiral banana LCs: a 100...

Induced and spontaneous deracemization in bent-core liquid crystal phases and in other phases doped with bent-core molecules.

Recently discovered chiral properties of several bent-core smectic liquid crystal phases are summarized and discussed in detail under the assumption that typical bent-core molecules may exist in chiral conformational states and are achiral only on average. Results of atomistic computer simulations are presented which indicate the existence of strongly chiral conformational states for typical be...

Hybrid Rod-Like and Bent-Core Liquid Crystal Dimers Exhibiting Biaxial Smectic a and Nematic Phases

Critical behavior at the isotropic-to-nematic phase transition in a bent-core liquid crystal.

Magnetic birefringence and dynamic light scattering measurements of orientational order parameter fluctuations at the isotropic-nematic phase transition of a bent-core liquid crystal reveal a pretransitional temperature dependence consistent with the standard Landau-deGennes mean field theory. However, as follows: the transition in the bent-core compound is more weakly first order (TNI-T* appro...