Ferroelectric properties of the chiral smectic C* phase based on a polyphilic compound

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Abstract
Ferroelectric properties were studied for a polyphilic compound doped with a chiral additive. The matrix itself has the enantiotropic smectic C phase just below the clearing point. Being doped with a chiral additive it manifests a smectic A and the chiral smectic C* phase with a rather high value of the spontaneous polarization and low viscosity. In the C* phase, we have measured the tilt angle (by the electrooptical switching), the spontaneous polarization (by the repolarization current techniques), the rotational viscosity (from the kinetics of the repolarization current), the relaxation frequency of the Goldstone mode (from the dielectric spectra) and wavevector of the helix (by observing the pitch under a polarizing microscope). Then the piezoelectric coefficient and the elastic modulus have been calculated for various temperatures. The physical properties are discussed in terms of polyphilic interactions.