Premium
Unusual Electro‐Optic Kerr Response in a Self‐Stabilized Amorphous Blue Phase with Nanoscale Smectic Clusters
Author(s) -
Le Khoa V.,
Hafuri Miho,
Ocak Hale,
BilginEran Belkız,
Tschierske Carsten,
Sasaki Takeo,
Araoka Fumito
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201501206
Subject(s) - amorphous solid , liquid crystal , phase (matter) , materials science , nanoscopic scale , isotropy , kerr effect , bent molecular geometry , relaxation (psychology) , condensed matter physics , core (optical fiber) , microsecond , optics , crystallography , nanotechnology , chemistry , optoelectronics , physics , organic chemistry , composite material , psychology , social psychology , nonlinear system , quantum mechanics
We investigated the electro‐optic response in the “foggy” amorphous blue phase (BPIII) as well as in the isotropic phase. To the best of our knowledge, such a study has not yet been performed due to the very limited thermal range of BPIII. In this study, we used a single‐component chiral bent‐core liquid crystal with a self‐stabilized BPIII, which is stable over a wide temperature range. The results show that the response time is on the order of hundreds of microseconds in the isotropic phase and increases to 1–2 ms in the BPIII (at T I−BP – T <1), then drastically increases up to a few tens of milliseconds upon further cooling in BPIII. Such an unusual behavior was explained on the basis of the high rotational viscosity and/or the existence of nanoscale smectic (Sm) clusters. The Kerr constant was also measured and found to be ∼500 pm V −2 , which is the largest among bent‐core BP systems reported so far and comparable with that of polymer‐stabilized BPs.