The microscopic model of polar and quadrupolar ordering in ferroelectric smectic C * liquid crystals

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Abstract
Thermodynamic model, based on the Landau free energy density expansion, which includes polar as well as quadrupolar coupling between the tilt of molecules and their transverse ordering, is critically reviewed. This model can account for anomalous properties of ferroelectric liquid crystals close to the SmC* - SmA transition, but does not include thermal fluctuations of transverse molecular degrees of freedom. Those fluctuations are taken into account in the corresponding microscopic model. Comparing the results of the two models it is shown that the fluctuations decrease the anomalies in polarization behavior.