|
Research Highlight: Experimental Identification of the Ferroelectric Nematic Phase
Liquid crystal group members, in close collaboration with colleagues in the SMRC, have identified a liquid crystal that has the long sought-after ferroelectric nematic phase. Ferroelectric behavior has been observed previously in tilted chiral smectics and in bent-core smectics but a polar nematic phase has proven elusive for more than 100 years. The ferroelectric nematic responds readily to applied electric fields and displays a host of novel electrooptic and hydrodynamic properties. (6/20)
This research was published in X. Chen et al., PNAS 117, 14021 (2020). The article is accompanied by a Commentary by Oleg Lavrentovich.
Physics World rated this discovery as one of the Top 10 " Breakthroughs of the Year" for 2020. |
|

Lens-shaped domains with opposite polarization are visible between crossed polarizers in the ferroelectric nematic phase of RM734.
|