Molecular correlations in a ferroelectric liquids crystal.
01 January 1988
The spontaneous polarization of smectic liquid crystals arises from sterically induced nearest neighbor interactions. We show that field dependent pyroelectric measurements provide a measure of the correlation length of these interactions in the liquid crystal s-2- methylbutyl4-n-decanoyloxybiphenyl- 4'-carboxylate (2M4DBC). This material is believed to consist of an inhomogeneous dynamically fluctuating mixture of at least two interconvertible conformers having polarizations of opposite sense.