TILTING CORRELATION IN ADJACENT LAYERS AND POSSIBLE THRESHOLDLESS ANTIFERROELECTRICITY IN SC-ASTERISK-LIKE LIQUID-CRYSTALS

We have first reviewed (1) the extremely bent molecular shape, (2) in- layer spontaneous polarizations near smectic layer boundaries parallel to the tilt plane in SCA, (3) a difference in the molecular states o f rotation about their long axes between SCA and SC*, and (4) the ANN NI model with J(3) by Yamashita (C1P.12 (P-124) at this Conf.). Then w e have observed the pretransitional effect in the tristable switching in three compounds and analyzed it through a thought experiment based on the above review; tilting directions in adjacent layers are conclud ed to be correlated with the biased directions of molecular rotation a bout the long axes. Finally we have presented evolution of switching c haracteristics from tristable to V-shaped in the first component compo und of the mixture reported to show the thresholdless antiferroelectri city (Inui et al., J. Mater. Chem., 6, 671 (1996)), and discussed it i n terms of the above thought experiment.