Characteristics of electrical properties of wide temperature range TGB phases in liquid crystal dimers

Abstract

4-n-decyloxy-4-(cholesteryloxycarbonyl-1-butyloxy) chalcone and its two successive homologous are optically active dimeric compound derived from cholesterol. They possess wide temperature ranges of two twist grain boundary (TGB) phases namely TGBA and TGBC. Comprehensive dielectric studies have been carried out for these compounds in the frequency range of 1 Hz to 10 MHz for different conditions of molecular anchoring. Various electrical parameter viz. dielectric permittivity, dielectric anisotropy, dc conductivity, and activation energy have been determined for these two TGB phases. Weak relaxation processes have been detected under planar anchoring of molecules in the TGBA and TGBC phases presumably due to amplitude (soft mode) and phase (Goldstone mode) fluctuations. © 2009 Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.