Twist-grain boundary phase characterized by AFM technique

0566320 - FZÚ 2023 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Lejček, Lubor - Fekete, Ladislav - Novotná, Vladimíra
Twist-grain boundary phase characterized by AFM technique.
Liquid Crystals. Roč. 49, č. 14 (2022), s. 1879-1885. ISSN 0267-8292. E-ISSN 1366-5855
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) EF16_019/0000760; GA MŠMT LTC19051
Grant - others:OP VVV - SOLID21(XE) CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000760; EU - ICT(XE) COST Action CA17139
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : TGB phase * AFM technique * liquid crystals
OECD category: Condensed matter physics (including formerly solid state physics, supercond.)
Impact factor: 2.2, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1080/02678292.2022.2114029

Twist grain boundary (TGB) phases represent liquid crystalline systems with a regular array of defects. In our research we study a compound with stable TGBC phase and pursued its structure by various experimental techniques. We observed the surface of the smectic film by AFM microscope and detected a periodic relief. We found that the displacement amplitude is few nanometers with the periodicity about 500 nm. Such periodicity is in accordance with the periodicity of the TGBC blocks’ rotation estimated by polarizing microscopy. The surface modulation is explained by the deformation of TGBC structure, which is created on TGBC films. A simplified model interpreting the observed smectic surface displacement as the consequence of rotating TGBC blocks inside the sample is proposed.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0337687