Antiferroelectric Properties and Their Surface Effect in Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal 3MC2PCPOPB

A detailed study of dielectric and optical properties in ferroelectric liquid crystal (R)-4′-3(-methoxycarbonyl-2-propoxycarbonyl)phenyl 4-(4-(n-octyloxy)phenyl)benzoate (3MC2PCPOPB) has been carried out. It has been found that the anomalous temperature dependence of the dielectric constant in 3MC2PCPOPB is due to the antiferroelectric property. In the antiferroelectric phase, five stable states are observed in voltage dependence of apparent tilt angle, and on the basis of those measurements the T(temperature)-E(electric field) phase diagram is obtained. In a thin cell (<3 µm), both ferroelectric and antiferroelectric domains are simultaneously observed at the same temperature over a wide temperature range. Although the ratio of the area of antiferroelectric domains to that of ferroelectric domains gradually increases with decreasing temperature, a complete antiferroelectric phase does not appear even at low temperature.