Flexo- and piezo-electric polarization of smectic layers in ferroelectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystals

Abstract

In this paper, we report on how flexoelectric and piezoelectric polarization components can be determined by a method based on simultaneous studies of dielectric and electrooptic properties of the chiral smectic liquid crystal in the regime of weak electric fields. As a rule, the measurements of spontaneous polarization are performed using switching experiments. The polarization measured in this way is not complete—it contains the piezoelectric component only. However, the knowledge of the entire local polarization of a single smectic layer is of great importance—it is necessary for correct determination of some material parameters, for instance elastic constants. Our experiments performed in a helical smectic mixture demonstrated that flexoelectric contribution to the local spontaneous polarization is significant in both ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases. In the antiferroelectric phase, the flexoelectric polarization is less due to higher helical pitch.