Abstract
The unit cell structures of two ferrielectric liquid-crystal phases are determined from ellipsometric studies of freestanding films in a nondistorting rotatable electric field. A highly biaxial mode with out-of-plane distortions describes all of the data from two different compounds. Qualitative and quantitative features of the data rule out alternate models. We also present a detailed explanation for apparent inconsistencies between previous resonant x-ray and optical experiments.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4870-4873 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Physical review letters |
| Volume | 84 |
| Issue number | 21 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 2000 |