Smectic liquid crystalline defined

The second group involves polymers with three-dimensional ordering of side branches (e.g., those forming Mj-phaseXTable 5). On X-ray patterns of these polymers 3-4 narrow reflexes at wide angles are observed. As a rule, the authors define this type of structure as crystalline, or ascribe a smectic type of structure, characteristic for ordered smectics in SE or SH phases. The heats of transition from anisotropic state to isotropic melt are usually small and do not exceed the heats of transition smectic liquid crystal — isotropic melt . The similarity of structural parameters of three-dimensionally ordered smectics and that of crystalline polymers of the type here considered, make their correct identification quite a difficult task. 

The experimental observations could be consistently explained if the general tilt structure (SmCo) inside the layers is assumed. For most bent-core smectics the polar vector is perpendicular to the tilt plane, defined by the layer normal and averaged long axis direction, just as polarization in the ferroelectric rod-like liquid crystalline systems. However, since in the bent-core liquid crystals the polar order is decoupled from the tilt order, the polar director can in general have any direction in space thus it can also have a non-zero component along the layer normal. This can be achieved by a combination of tilting (rotation around the polar director) and leaning (rotation around the direction perpendicular to the polar director) of... 

In order to understand the basic principles of operation of the many different kinds of LCDs being developed and/or manufactured at the present time, it is necessary to briefly describe the liquid crystalline state and then define the physical properties of direct relevance to LCDs. First, the nematic, smectic and columnar liquid crystalline states will be described briefly. However, the rest of the monograph dealing with liquid crystals will concentrate on nematic liquid crystals and their physical properties, since the vast majority of LCDs manufactured operate using mixtures of thermotropic, non-amphiphilic rodlike organic compounds in the nematic state. 

A prerequisite for experimental determination of the anisotropic electrooptic properties (Ae, An) is the occurrence of a nematic phase with a defined order parameter S [4]. As single substances, many commercially used liquid crystalline materials have either no mesophase or a smectic phase only. As components of nematic basic mixtures on the other hand, they behave like typical liquid crystals. 

Well-Defined Smectic Side Chain Liquid Crystalline... 

Finkelmann reported synthesis of a novel cross-linked smectic-C main-chain liquid-crystalline elastomer that was formed by polycondensation of vinyloxy-terminated mesogens, tetramethyldi-siloxane, and pentamethyl-pentaoxapentasilicane. The introduction of the functional vinyloxy group allows the synthesis of well-defined networks with good mechanical properties due to ehmination of side reactions as in the case of vinyl groups [60]. 

Smectic B Sb- The smectic B phase is similar to the smectic A phase in that the molecules are aligned perpendicular to the layers but the molecules are in this case hexagonally close packed within the layers and are usually one molecule thick. The necessary disorder for these to be a liquid crystalline phase arises from rotation of the molecules about their long axis. It would be untrue to say that they are free to rotate, but the molecules do not exhibit a well-defined orientation one to another (Figure 3.2c)... 

Depending on the degree of order in the system, three general classes of liquid crystalline phases may be defined, i.e. nematic, cholesteric (or chiral nematic) and smectic. These are shown schematically in Fig. 1. 

Fig. 1. Schematic representation of (a) nematic, (b) smectic and (c) cholesteric (or chiral nematic) liquid crystalline phases. In the nematic phase only orientational correlations are present with a mean alignment in the direction of the director n. In the smectic phase there are additional layer-like correlations between the molecules in planes perpendicular to the director. The planes, drawn as broken lines, are in reality due to density variations in the direction of the director. The interplane separation then corresponds to the period of these density waves. In the cholesteric phase the molecules lie in planes (defined by broken lines) twisted with respect to each other. Since the molecules in one plane exhibit nematic-like order with a mean alignment defined by the director n, the director traces out a right- or left-handed helix on translation through the cholesteric medium in a direction perpendicular to the planes. When the period of this helix is of the order of the wavelength of light, the cholesteric phase exhibits bright Bragg-like reflections. In these illustrations the space between the molecules (drawn as ellipsoids for simplicity) will be filled with the alkyl chains, etc., to give a fairly high packing...

---