Phase diagrams for the blue phases of highly chiral liquid crystals

Abstract

Polarizing microscopy and optical-activity measurements are used to determine the phase diagram for the blue phases of chiral-racemic mixtures of terephthaloyloxy-bis-4-(2'-methylbutyl) benzoate. Contrary to an earlier report, it is the second blue phase (BP II) rather than the first blue phase (BP I) that is not stable relative to the other blue phases at high chirality. With this development, all phase diagrams for the blue phases reported to date have the same topology. Using similar data for two other highly chiral systems, it is found that a simple scaling of the temperature and chiral-fraction axes produces phase diagrams in quantitative agreement with the present results. Thus, in spite of differences in molecular structure, the number of chiral centers, and phase-transition temperatures, these three systems possess remarkably similar phase diagrams and lend evidence for a universal phase diagram for the blue phases. © 1993 The American Physical Society.