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Jan P F Lagerwall

Publications and source records attributed to Jan P F Lagerwall.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Current topics in smectic liquid crystal research.

Interest in the smectic liquid-crystalline state of matter received a substantial boost with the discovery by Meyer in the mid-1970s that a chiral smectic C (SmC*) phase exhibits a spontaneous electric polarization, and with the subsequent demonstration by Clark and Lagerwall of the surface-stabilized SmC* ferroelectric liquid crystal at the beginning of the 1980s. Since then, chiral smectic phases and their plethora of polar effects have dominated the research in this field, which today has reached a mature state where the first commercial microdisplay applications are now shipping in millions-per-year quantities. In this Review we discuss some of the topics of highest interest in current smectic liquid crystal research, and address application-relevant research (de Vries-type tilting transitions without defect generation and high-tilt antiferroelectric liquid crystals with perfect dark state) as well as more curiosity-driven research (the nature and origin of the chiral smectic C subphases and their intermediate frustrated states between ferro- and antiferroelectricity).

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PubMed2005

Demonstration of the antiferroelectric aspect of the helical superstructures in Sm-C*, Sm-C*alpha, and Sm-C*a liquid crystals.

We show that the helical superstructure in chiral smectic-C-type liquid crystal phases can, if the pitch is short enough, give rise to the tristate switching characteristic of antiferroelectrics even if the local commensurate order is synpolar as in the ordinary Sm-C* phase. Since the field-induced helix unwinding exhibits a distinct threshold, in contrast to mere helix distortion, two unwinding / rewinding peaks per half cycle of an applied triangular wave voltage can be seen in the current response. By considering this antiferroelectric aspect of the helical modulation we give a simple explanation of why the ultrashort-pitch Sm-C*alpha phase exhibits antiferroelectric switching although its dielectric spectroscopy response is qualitatively identical to that of the synpolar Sm-C* phase. Using data from the compound MHPOCBC we show that the Sm-C*alpha dielectric response is well described by continuum theory. We also demonstrate that, if the pitch is very short as in MHPOCBC, helix unwinding/rewinding leave characteristic traces in the electrooptic response even in the commensurately antiferroelectric (antipolar) Sm-C*(a) phase, distinguishable from the switching between the antipolar and synpolar states of this phase.

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PubMed2005

Generation of frustrated liquid crystal phases by mixing an achiral nematic-smectic-C mesogen with an antiferroelectric chiral smectic liquid crystal.

By mixing the achiral liquid crystal HOAB, exhibiting a nematic (N)-smectic-C (SmC) mesophase sequence, with the chiral antiferroelectric liquid crystal (AFLC) (S,S)-M7BBM7, forming the antiferroelectric SmC(a)(*) phase, at least seven different mesophases have been induced which neither component forms on its own: a twist-grain-boundary (TGB(*)) phase, two or three blue phases, the untilted SmA(*) phase, as well as all three chiral smectic-C-type "subphases," SmC(alpha)(*), SmC(beta)(*), and SmC(gamma)(*). The nature of the induced phases and the transitions between them were determined by means of optical and electro-optical investigations, dielectric spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. The induced phases can to a large extent be understood as a result of frustration, TGB(*) at the border between nematic and smectic, the subphases between syn and anticlinic tilted smectic organization. X ray scattering experiments reveal that the smectic layer spacing as well as the degree of smectic order is relatively constant in the whole mixture composition range in which AFLC behavior prevails, whereas both these parameters rapidly decrease as the amount of HOAB is increased to such an extent that no other smectic-C-type phase than SmC/SmC(*) exists. By tailoring the composition we are able to produce liquid crystal mixtures exhibiting unusual phase sequences, e.g., with a direct isotropic-SmC(a)(*) transition or a temperature range of the SmC(beta)(*) subphase of about 50 K.

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PubMed2004

Polarity-directed analog electro-optic switching in a low-polarization chiral smectic liquid crystal with positive dielectric anisotropy.

We describe an analog electro-optic (EO) switching mechanism occurring in thin cells filled with a low-polarization ferroelectric liquid crystal mixture with positive dielectric anisotropy. The mixture is composed of an achiral nonpolar smectic-C (Sm-C) host doped with a small amount of a commercially available unichiral compound. The switching mechanism provides analog EO behavior, and thus could be attractive for information display applications. The process is polarization-driven for weak fields, while for higher field strength the dielectric coupling dominates the process.

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PubMed2002

Antiferroelectric liquid-crystal mixture without smectic layer shrinkage at the direct Sm-A*-Sm-C(*)(a) transition.

We report results of x-ray, optic, electro-optic, and dielectric investigations on an antiferroelectric liquid-crystal mixture exhibiting a direct second-order phase transition between the Sm-A* and Sm-C(*)(a) phases with virtually no shrinkage in the smectic layer spacing. The birefringence measurements and texture observations suggest that the phase transition follows the diffuse cone model of Adrian de Vries, which explains the constant layer spacing. The antiferroelectric nature of the tilted phase is verified by the presence of twin polarization reversal peaks in the current response and by the absence of strong absorptions in the dielectric spectrum. The threshold for switching this phase to the synclinic, ferroelectric state is sharp and occurs at a very low voltage.

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PubMed2002

Optical and x-ray evidence of the "de Vries" Sm-A*-Sm-C* transition in a non-layer-shrinkage ferroelectric liquid crystal with very weak interlayer tilt correlation.

A non-layer-shrinkage fluorinated ferroelectric liquid crystal compound, 8422[2F3], has been characterized by means of optical, x-ray, and calorimetric methods. The orientational distribution within macroscopic volumes, determined through wide-angle x-ray scattering and birefringence measurements, was found to be identical in the Sm-A* and helical Sm-C* phases. Together with the absence of layer shrinkage, this constitutes strong evidence that the second-order Sm-A*-Sm-C* transition in this material is well described by the diffuse cone model of de Vries. The absolute values of the layer spacing show that the molecules aggregate to antiparallel pairs. The molecular interaction across the layer boundaries will then occur only between fluorine atoms, leading to unusually weak interlayer tilt direction correlation. This explains the experimental observations of a very easily disturbed Sm-C* helix and a peculiar surface-stabilized texture. Tilt angle and birefringence values as a function of field and temperature have been evaluated in the Sm-A* and Sm-C* phases and the results corroborate the conclusions from the x-ray investigations.

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