Bilayered smectic phase polymorphism in the dipolar Gay-Berne liquid crystal model

J Chem Phys. 2009 Apr 21;130(15):154504. doi: 10.1063/1.3111953.

Abstract

We present computer simulations of the Gay-Berne model with a strong terminal dipole. We report the existence of different stable antiferroelectric interdigitated bilayered phases in this model with diverse in-plane organization. The occurrence of these phases depends crucially on the value of the molecular elongation kappa. For kappa=3 we find an interdigitated bilayered smectic-A phase (absent when there is no dipole) and a bilayered smectic-T (or crystal) with positional in-plane tetragonal ordering, different from the hexatic observed in the absence of the molecular dipole. For kappa=4, bilayered smectic-A and in-plane hexatic-ordered smectic-B (or crystal) phases are observed.