Smectics nonchiral

Figure 1.14. Symmetry elements of the nonchiral smectic-C (SmC) phase (point group C2a), and the chiral smectic-C (SmC ) phase (point group C2). For both phases, the rotation around the C2-axis by n transforms a hypothetical polarization P = Px,Py,Pz) into —Px,Py,—Pz)- Therefore, P and P must be zero due to the symmetry of these phases. The additional symmetry element cr/, in the SmC phase transforms Px, Py, Pz) into Px, —Py, Pz), so that Py — Q m SmC. However, the same...

In chiral-racemic mixtures, the magnitude of Pg varies essentially linearly with the enantiomeric excess. Important for applications is the more general case of a mixture of a nonchiral smectic-C host with a chiral dopant. The relation between Pg and the concentration of the chiral dopant in such mix-... 

---