Dielectric Relaxation of FLC Showing Anomalous Behavior

Abstract

The present study reports the dielectric study of a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) material Felix 016/030 showing anomalous dielectric behavior. This anomalous behavior is explained on the basis of a model of dynamically fluctuating mixture of two interconvertible conformers, whose relative density changes with the temperature. The dielectric permittivity has been measured in the frequency range of 100 Hz to 10 MHz in SmC* phase with the temperature variation from 25°C to 80°C. We have observed Goldstone mode of the dielectric relaxation in the frequency range covered. The Cole‐Cole equation has been used to analyze the relaxation phenomenon in FLC material under observation. The experimental results have been corrected for the low and high frequency range and used to determine various dielectric parameters such as distribution parameter, dielectric strength and relaxation frequency, and so on. The temperature dependence of these parameters along with rotational viscosity and spontaneous polarization extracted from Goldstone mode has been discussed in detail. The aforementioned dielectric parameters have also been studied with variation of bias voltage and it suggests that the Goldstone mode has been suppressed effectively by applying high bias voltage.