Title:	Optical investigations on the biaxial smectic-A phase of a bent-core compound
Authors:	Wang, S.T. Han, X.F. Cady, A. Liu, Z.Q. Kamenev, A. Glazman, L. Sadashiva, B.K. Reddy, Amaranatha R. Huang, C.C.
Issue Date:	21-Dec-2004
Publisher:	The American Physical Society
Citation:	Physical Review E, 2004, Vol.70, 061705
Abstract:	Several unique optical properties have been obtained from freestanding films of a bent-core compound. Our experimental results indicate the existence of the antiferroelectric biaxial smectic-A (Sm A) phase. The critical exponent associated with the biaxiality through the uniaxial–antiferroelectric biaxial Sm A transition has been measured to be 0.82±0.04, which is in good agreement with our theoretical calculation. Our theoretical advances further demonstrate that the critical behavior of the optical biaxiality with the order parameter being a vector is described by the secondary-order parameter of the three-dimensional XY model. We also observe a remarkable even–odd layering effect exhibited by the surface layers of freestanding films under an applied electric field (approximately 20 V/cm) in the film plane.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/2289/1278
ISSN:	ISSN 1550-2376 (online) 1539-3755
Alternative Location:	http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v70/e061705
Copyright:	(2004) by the American Physical Society
Appears in Collections:	Research Papers (SCM)

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