Twist-bend nematic liquid crystals in high magnetic fields

P. K. Challa*, V. Borshch, O. Parri, C. T. Imrie, S. N. Sprunt, J. T. Gleeson, O. D. Lavrentovich, A. Jakli

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

104 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We present magneto-optic measurements on two materials that form the recently discovered twist-bend nematic (N-tb) phase. This intriguing state of matter represents a fluid phase that is orientationally anisotropic in three directions and also exhibits translational order with periodicity several times larger than the molecular size. N-tb materials may also spontaneously form a visible, macroscopic stripe texture. We show that the optical stripe texture can be persistently inhibited by a magnetic field, and a 25T external magnetic field depresses the N-N-tb phase transition temperature by almost 1 degrees C. We propose a quantitative mechanism to account for this shift and suggest a Helfrich-Hurault-type mechanism for the optical stripe formation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number060501
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear and Soft Matter Physics
Volume89
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Jun 2014

Bibliographical note

This work was supported by the NSF under Grants No. DMR-0964765, No. DMR-1104805, No. DMR-1121288, and No. DMR-1307674, as well as DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-06ER 46331. Invaluable assistance was provided by W. Aldhizer and S. W. McGill. Work performed at NHMFL was supported by NSF cooperative agreement DMR-0084173, the State of Florida, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Keywords

  • BANANA-SHAPED MOLECULES
  • ORIENTATIONAL ORDER
  • PHASE
  • DIMERS
  • INSTABILITY
  • CHEVRON

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Twist-bend nematic liquid crystals in high magnetic fields'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this