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B Pansu

Publications and source records attributed to B Pansu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

New investigation on the tetragonal liquid-crystalline phase or SmQ.

Chiral liquid crystals, for which twist and smectic order strongly compete, can exhibit complex architectures. This is the case of the SmQ phase which shows a high degree of 3D order (tetragonal or hexagonal) as well as a liquid signature. We have combined X-ray scattering and optical observations on a new compound exhibiting a SmQ phase to discriminate between the two models proposed by A.M. Levelut et al. (J. Phys. II 7, 981 (1997)) at the molecular level for the phase with the I4(1)22 space group.

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Influence of the molecular tilt on the structure of smectic blue phases.

Smectic blue phases (BP(sm)) are original physical systems of thermotropic liquid crystals, displaying a double geometrical frustration: the extension of chirality in the three spatial dimensions, such as classical blue phases, and the competition between smectic order and helical twist, such as twist grain boundary (TGB) phases. We report experimental evidence of the influence of the underlying TGB((A) or (C)) phase on the BP(sm) structure.

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Structural investigations on smectic blue phases.

Smectic blue phases ( BP(Sm)) are thermotropic liquid crystalline phases which exhibit both three-dimensional orientational order, such as classical blue phases, and smectic positional order. BP(Sm) appear as the three-dimensional counterpart of twist grain boundary phases. X-ray scattering and optical polarizing microscopy provide information on the hexagonal and cubic symmetries of these new phases.

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Hexagonal symmetry for smectic blue phases

Smectic blue phases are liquid crystalline phases which exhibit both three-dimensional-orientational order and smectic positional order. X-ray scattering experiments reveal that at least one of these phases is not cubic, as classical blue phases, but offers a hexagonal symmetry. A comparison of the experimental patterns with the scattering patterns given by smectic double twist tubes sketched by Kamien is proposed.

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Tensorial x-ray structure factor in smectic liquid crystals.

The amplitudes and the polarizations of the different resonant reflections characterizing the modulation of the orientational order in smectic liquid crystals are derived from the molecular tensorial structure factor. In the case of a commensurate helicoidal modulation, our conclusions are consistent with the previous predictions of Dimitrienko. We have extended Dimitrienko's prediction to incommensurate helicoidal structures and to commensurate but nonhelicoidal modulations. We have compared the estimated values for different models of modulations with the same period, with the experimental data obtained on different smectic-C variants. These comparisons enable us to discriminate between the different models.

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