Splay Nematic Phase

Researchers from the Department for Complex Matter Jožef Stefan Institute Alenka Mertelj, Nerea Sebastián, Luka Cmok in Martin Čopič have in collaboration with researchers from University of York, UK, studied a recently designed nematic phase, which appears in materials made of polar wedge-shaped molecules. They discovered that average molecular orientation in the new phase organizes in a manner that resembles a modulated array of Japanese fans. The modulated structure is biaxial and antiferroelectric. The described phase is a major step forward towards the realization of an often-speculated polar nematic phase, which could lead to materials with optical and electrical behaviors desired for a wide range of applications. The study was published in the paper Splay Nematic Phase in Physical Review X.

Raziskovalci Odseka za kompleksne snovi Instituta “Jožef Stefan” Alenka Mertelj, Nerea Sebastián, Luka Cmok in  Martin Čopič so skupaj s kolegi iz Univerze v Yorku, Velika Britanija, preučili novo nematično fazo, ki se pojavi v snoveh, zgrajenih iz močno polarnih molekul klinaste oblike. Ugotovili so, da ima povprečna ureditev molekul  v novi fazi modulirano pahljačasto strukturo, kar povzroči, da je faza dvoosna in antiferoelektrična. Fazo so poimenovali pahljačasta nematična faza. Opisana faza predstavlja pomemben korak k uresničitvi polarne nematične faze, ki lahko vodi do materialov z optičnimi in električnimi lastnostmi, želenimi za raznovrstne aplikacije. Rezultati raziskave z naslovom Splay Nematic Phase so bili objavljeni v reviji Physical Review X.