The ferroelectric properties in the liquid-crystalline smectic C* phase of the chiral mesogenic azobenzene (S)-4-(4-decyloxy-phenylazo)benzoic acid 4-(1-methylhexyloxy)-3-nitro-phenyl ester (‘W470’) were studied and found to be strongly dependent on the intensity of incident light. The light-induced trans to cis isomerization of the azobenzene chromophore which is an intrinsic constituent of this SmC* mesogen leads to a pronounced photoferroelectric effect since the ferroelectric SmC* ordering is considerably disturbed by the presence of bent-shaped cis-isomer molecules: At increasing light intensity a strong decrease of both SmC* order parameters, spontaneous electric polarization Ps and director tilt angle θ, is observed. It is further seen that even the nature of the ferroelectric transition is affected by the photoisomerization which leads to a crossover from the nearly tricritrical transition observed in the absence of light to a typical second-order transition. This result is interpreted theoretically taking into account a coupling between the director tilt and the biaxial order parameter which is strongly affected by the light-induced generation of the bent-shaped cis-isomers. The dynamics of the intrinsic photoferroelectric effect in W470 was studied by time-resolved measurements of spontaneous polarisation and director tilt.
手性介晶
偶氮苯(S)-4-(4-癸氧基苯偶氮)
苯甲酸4-(1-甲基己氧基)-3-
硝基苯酯(‘W470’)的液晶层列C*相中的
铁电性质被研究,并发现这些性质强烈依赖于入射光强度。
偶氮苯发色团是这种SmC*介晶的内在组成部分,其光诱导的反式到顺式异构化导致了明显的光
铁电效应,因为弯曲的顺式异构分子存在,使得
铁电性的SmC*有序性大大受到干扰:随着光强度的增加,可以看到SmC*序参数、自发极化Ps和取向倾斜角θ都显著减少。进一步可以看到,甚至
铁电相变的性质也受到光异构化的影响,导致在没有光的情况下观察到的接近三临界点的转变转变为典型的二级转变。这一结果在理论上被解释为考虑到取向倾斜和受光诱导的弯曲顺式异构体的产生强烈影响的二轴有序参数之间的耦合。通过对自发极化和取向倾斜进行时间分辨测量,研究了W470中内在光
铁电效应的动力学。