Computer simulation study of novel chiral liquid crystal phases

We report a computer simulation study of the phase transitional behavior of a system of chiral Gay-Berne molecules embedded with a terminal dipole. In this Rapid Communication, coarse-grained modeling is done to study the influence of coupled chiral and dipolar interactions on the macroscopic liquid...

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Main Authors: Tanay Paul, Jayashree Saha
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2019-11-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.1.032012
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author Tanay Paul
Jayashree Saha
author_facet Tanay Paul
Jayashree Saha
author_sort Tanay Paul
collection DOAJ
description We report a computer simulation study of the phase transitional behavior of a system of chiral Gay-Berne molecules embedded with a terminal dipole. In this Rapid Communication, coarse-grained modeling is done to study the influence of coupled chiral and dipolar interactions on the macroscopic liquid crystalline phase behavior. This NVT molecular dynamics simulation study presents the formation of the smectic blue phase (BP_{Sm}), which is a comparatively recent experimentally discovered chiral phase. Our study reveals that a gradual increment of the strength of the chiral interaction brings conventional cholesteric and blue phases, whereas the addition of a dipolar interaction can induce the smectic blue phase. Moreover, we demonstrate that a further increase of dipolar strength makes novel chiral bilayer phases feasible, yet to be realized experimentally.
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spelling doaj.art-be38382d8c9b437b949ac82abd928c4c2024-04-12T16:46:33ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642019-11-011303201210.1103/PhysRevResearch.1.032012Computer simulation study of novel chiral liquid crystal phasesTanay PaulJayashree SahaWe report a computer simulation study of the phase transitional behavior of a system of chiral Gay-Berne molecules embedded with a terminal dipole. In this Rapid Communication, coarse-grained modeling is done to study the influence of coupled chiral and dipolar interactions on the macroscopic liquid crystalline phase behavior. This NVT molecular dynamics simulation study presents the formation of the smectic blue phase (BP_{Sm}), which is a comparatively recent experimentally discovered chiral phase. Our study reveals that a gradual increment of the strength of the chiral interaction brings conventional cholesteric and blue phases, whereas the addition of a dipolar interaction can induce the smectic blue phase. Moreover, we demonstrate that a further increase of dipolar strength makes novel chiral bilayer phases feasible, yet to be realized experimentally.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.1.032012
spellingShingle Tanay Paul
Jayashree Saha
Computer simulation study of novel chiral liquid crystal phases
Physical Review Research
title Computer simulation study of novel chiral liquid crystal phases
title_full Computer simulation study of novel chiral liquid crystal phases
title_fullStr Computer simulation study of novel chiral liquid crystal phases
title_full_unstemmed Computer simulation study of novel chiral liquid crystal phases
title_short Computer simulation study of novel chiral liquid crystal phases
title_sort computer simulation study of novel chiral liquid crystal phases
url http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.1.032012
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AT jayashreesaha computersimulationstudyofnovelchiralliquidcrystalphases