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The SmA phase of a bent-core V-shaped compound: structure and electric-field response |
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| Authors: | Ibon Alonso Josu Martinez-Perdiguero Josu Ortega César Luis Folcia Jesús Etxebarria Nélida Gimeno |
| Institution: | 1. Micro and Nanotechnology Department , Fundación Tekniker , Eibar, Spain;2. Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada , Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco , Bilbao, Spain;3. Departamento de Física Aplicada II , Facultad de Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad del País Vasco , Bilbao, Spain;4. Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón, Química Orgánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Zaragoza-CSIC , Zaragoza, Spain |
| Abstract: | The smectic A (SmA) phase of a V-shaped mesogen with a molecular bending angle of 60° was studied. According to X-ray measurements, the molecules are arranged with the ‘bow-string’ direction parallel to the smectic layer. This point was confirmed by birefringence analysis and the result is compatible with a non-polar structure. A detailed study of the (001) smectic layer reflection versus temperature was also carried out to determine the smectic translational order parameter. The results indicate that the material presents a high degree of translational order. In addition, the electric field response of the material was studied by means of second harmonic generation. This technique turned out to be highly sensitive to small structural distortions due to the V-shape of the constituent molecules. |
| Keywords: | V-shaped molecule second harmonic generation X-ray phase transition |