arXiv subjects

Sourav Patranabish

Publications and source records attributed to Sourav Patranabish.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

Nematic twist-bend phase of a bent liquid crystal dimer: field-induced deformations of the helical structure, macroscopic polarization and fast switching speeds

The twist-bend nematic (Ntb) phase is a recent addition to the nematic (N) phases of liquid crystals (LCs). A net polar order in the Ntb phase under an external electric field was predicted in several recent theoretical studies but yet to be experimentally realized. We investigated the polar nature, dielectric properties, electro-optical switching and optical transmission properties of a bent LC dimer CB7CB. The LC showed a relatively high-temperature nematic (N) phase and a lower-temperature nematic (NX) phase (also called Ntb in literature). A threshold-dependent polarization current response with large polarization values was obtained in the entire mesophase range. The associated switching times were found in sub-millisecond region. This ferroelectric-like polarization resulted from collective reorientation of polar cybotactic clusters. In NX phase, electric field-induced deformation of twisted helical structures also contributed to net polarization. Dielectric measurements confirmed the presence of cybotactic clusters via relaxation processes with large activation energies. Deformation of the NX helical structure under external electric field was corroborated by polarized optical microscopy and optical transmission studies. The field-induced deformations, net polar order and fast switching will contribute towards greater understanding of the NX (or Ntb) phase dynamics. It may also find applications in next-generation electro-optic devices.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2021

Quantum-Dots Dispersed Bent-core Nematic Liquid Crystals and Cybotactic Clusters: Experimental and Theoretical Insights

We study a quantum-dots (QDs) dispersed bent core liquid crystalline system in planar geometry and present experimental measurements of the order parameter, dielectric dispersion and absorption spectra, optical textures, with attention to variations with temperature. A bent core liquid crystal (LC) 14-2M-CH$_3$ is used as the host material and CdSe/ZnS core-shell type QDs are used as the dopant. The nematic (N) phase exhibited by the pristine (undoped) LC 14-2M-CH$_3$ contains cybotactic clusters, which are retained by its QDs incorporated LC nanocomposite. Our notable findings concern the reduction of the orientational order parameter of the QDs dispersed LC system compared to its pristine counterpart, at fixed temperatures, and a reduction of the size of the cybotactic clusters due to the incorporation of QDs. The reduced order parameter for the doped system is accompanied by reduced birefringence, increased activation energy and a qualitative reduction in the dielectric anisotropy. We complement the experiments with a novel Landau-de Gennes type free energy for a doped bent core LC system, that qualitatively captures the doping-induced reduced order parameter and its variation with temperature. The dependency of the mean order parameter on several other factors (e.g. cluster size, coupling parameter) are also analyzed.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2018

Theoretical Remarks on Cybotactic Clusters of Bent-Core Nematic Liquid Crystals in 1D Settings

The bent-core liquid crystals (LCs) are highly regarded as the next-generation materials for electro-optic devices. The nematic (N) phase of these LCs possesses highly ordered smectic-like cybotactic clusters which are promising in terms of ferroelectric-like behaviour in the N phase itself. We have studied a one-dimensional (1D) Landau-deGennes model of spatially inhomogeneous order parameters for the N phase of bent-core LCs. We investigate the effects of spatial confinement and coupling (between these clusters and the surrounding LC molecules) on the order parameters to model cluster formation in recently reported experiments. The coupling is found to increase the cluster order parameter significantly, suggesting an enhancement in the cluster formation and could also predict a possible transition to a phase with weak nematic-like ordering in the vicinity of nematic-isotropic transition upon appreciable increase of the coupling parameter γ.

cond-mat.soft↗