FERROELECTRIC PROPERTIES IN BANANA-SHAPED ACHIRAL LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE MOLECULAR-SYSTEMS

We investigated the ferroelectric behavior in novel ferroelectric liqu id crystals consisting of banana-shaped achiral molecules. Under the a pplication of a triangular-wave electric field, we observed a single p eak corresponding to the switching current in the higher-order smectic (SmX2) phase as well as the smectic A(b) (SmA(b)) phase, where ferroe lectricity had been already reported. This result proves that the spon taneous polarization is switchable with a single hysteresis loop in Sm X2 as well as in SmA(b). We also discussed the dielectric behavior in both the phases.