Shear-induced birefringence in an optically isotropic cubic liquid crystalline phase

We report an unusually strong flow-induced birefringence in an optically isotropic cubic phase occurring below the isotropic chiral conglomerate phase formed by a low-molecular-weight polycatenar mesogen. The transition into the birefringent state occurs thresholdless and the induced birefringence i...

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Veröffentlicht in:Soft matter 2022-11, Vol.18 (43), p.8315-8319
Hauptverfasser: Eremin, Alexey, Murad, Ahmad, Alaasar, Mohamed
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:We report an unusually strong flow-induced birefringence in an optically isotropic cubic phase occurring below the isotropic chiral conglomerate phase formed by a low-molecular-weight polycatenar mesogen. The transition into the birefringent state occurs thresholdless and the induced birefringence is comparable with that observed in polymeric systems. We suggest that the flow-induced deformation of the cubic structure is responsible for the strong rheo-optical response. We demonstrate thresholdless flow-induced birefringence in a liquid crystal isotropic phase made of low-molecular-weight swallow-tail polycatenar mesogens. The induced birefringence is comparable with that observed in polymeric systems.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/d2sm01148d