Relaxation modes in antiferroelectric liquid crystals

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Abstract
The Goldstone modes in antiferroelectric liquid crystals with various optical purities were observed by means of the photon correlation spectroscopy. It was clarified that the helical pitch diverges at a certain temperature in the SmCA* phase and a simple relation with respect to it as a function of temperature and the optical purity was obtained. The bend elastic constant was found to show a discontinuous increase at the transition point from SmCA* to SmC. We investigated the dipole-dipole interaction to explain this increase and the dependence of the bend elastic constant on the temperature and the optical purity.