Orientational correlations in liquid crystalline systems revealed by polarization-analyzed resonant x-ray scattering

Ronald Pindak; Peter Mach; Anne-Marie Levelut; Philippe Barois; Cheng-Cher Huang; Lars Furenlid

doi:10.1117/12.370103

16 November 1999 Orientational correlations in liquid crystalline systems revealed by polarization-analyzed resonant x-ray scattering

Ronald Pindak, Peter Mach, Anne-Marie Levelut, Philippe Barois, Cheng-Cher Huang, Lars Furenlid

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 3773, X-Ray Optics Design, Performance, and Applications; (1999) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.370103
Event: SPIE's International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1999, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

The existence of a helical symmetry axis is widespread in systems exhibiting liquid-crystalline order, especially in systems comprised of chiral molecules. Because these systems usually lack three-dimensional positional order, the helical symmetry axis cannot be observed using conventional x-ray scattering. Since the nature of the helical ordering determines the electro-optic response of the liquid crystal phases, it is a crucial structural feature to establish. Important for device applications are the various chiral smectic-C (SmC*) liquid crystal phases that are composed of fluid-like layers of tilted molecules. The electro-optic response of these phases varies from ferro to ferri to antiferroelectric. To elucidate the structure of the SmC* phases, we did resonant x-ray scattering at the sulfur K-edge on sulfur containing compounds. Our polarization-analyzed measurements of the resonant diffraction provided unambiguous evidence that the in-plane tilt direction in these phases exhibits a helical interlayer orientational ordering with a short pitch equals vd where d is the layer spacing. In the lowest temperature SmC* phase, which has antiferroelectric ordering, v was close to 2. At higher temperatures, the ferrielectric phases had v equals 3, then 4, and finally, an incommensurate value varying between 5 and 8 with increasing temperature.

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Ronald Pindak, Peter Mach, Anne-Marie Levelut, Philippe Barois, Cheng-Cher Huang, and Lars Furenlid "Orientational correlations in liquid crystalline systems revealed by polarization-analyzed resonant x-ray scattering", Proc. SPIE 3773, X-Ray Optics Design, Performance, and Applications, (16 November 1999); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.370103

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