Electro-optical and thermal studies of one ferroelectric liquid-crystal compound with a polarization sign reversal

Abstract

Temperature variations of heat capacity, optical tilt angle, polarization, and helical pitch have been measured in the vicinity of the smectic-A (SmA)-chiral-smectic-C (SmC*) transition of one liquid-crystal compound which exhibits an unusual reversal behavior in polarization at about 25°C while the SmA-SmC* transition occurs at 50°C. Unexpectedly, from our detailed calorimetric and optical microscopy studies, we have found that the recrystallization also occurs around 25°C during a reasonably slow cooling experimental run