A Consideration on Expression of the Elastic Free Energy of Chiral Smectic C Liquid Crystals

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Abstract
The effectiveness of the “nematic” expression of the elastic free energy in chiral smectic C liquid crystals is investigated. From the comparison with the phenomenological theory by Pikin and Indenbom, it is shown that the spontaneous twist parameter q // and the spontaneous bend parameter q ⊥ involved in the “nematic” expression are related with the existence of Lifshitz's invariant and the flexoelectricity, respectively. Possibility of the evaluation of q // and q ⊥ is discussed.