Antiferroelectric Order in Nematic Liquids: Flexoelectricity Versus Electrostatics.

The recent discovery of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystalline phases marks a major breakthrough in soft matter research. An intermediate phase, often observed between the nonpolar and the ferroelectric nematic phase, shows a distinct antiferroelectric response to electric fields. However, its structure and formation mechanisms remain debated, with flexoelectric and electrostatics effects proposed as competing mechanisms.

Order-disorder behavior in the ferroelectric nematic phase investigated via Raman spectroscopy.

Polar-ordered fluids are of interest both fundamentally and from an application standpoint. The recently discovered ferroelectric nematic phase is an example of a polar-ordered fluid, and while there has been extensive research interest in these materials, some of the fundamental properties are yet to be fully understood. Here, we report the order parameters of one of the first known materials that exhibit a ferroelectric nematic phase, RM734, determined via Raman spectroscopy.

Polar Order in a Fluid Like Ferroelectric with a Tilted Lamellar Structure - Observation of a Polar Smectic C (SmC) Phase.

The discovery of fluid states of matter with spontaneous bulk polar order is appreciated as a major discovery in the fields of soft matter and liquid crystals. Typically, this manifests as polar order superimposed atop conventional phase structures and is thus far limited to orthogonal phase types. Here we report a family of materials which exhibit a previously unseen state of matter which we conclude is a polar smectic C phase, and so we term it SmC.

Structure-Property Relationships in Auxetic Liquid Crystal Elastomers-The Effect of Spacer Length.

Auxetics are materials displaying a negative Poisson's ratio, i.e., getting thicker in one or both transverse axes when subject to strain.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in polar fluids.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking and emergent polar order are each of fundamental importance to a range of scientific disciplines, as well as generating rich phase behaviour in liquid crystals (LCs). Here, we show the union of these phenomena to lead to two previously undiscovered polar liquid states of matter. Both phases have a lamellar structure with an inherent polar ordering of their constituent molecules.