MICROSCOPIC ORIGIN OF CHOLESTERIC PITCH

Authors
HARRIS AB KAMIEN RD LUBENSKY TC
Citation
Ab. Harris et al., MICROSCOPIC ORIGIN OF CHOLESTERIC PITCH, Physical review letters, 78(8), 1997, pp. 1476-1479
Citations number
15
Categorie Soggetti
Physics
Journal title
Physical review letters → ACNP
ISSN journal
00319007
Volume
78
Issue
8
Year of publication
1997
Pages
1476 - 1479
Database
ISI
SICI code
0031-9007(1997)78:8<1476:MOOCP>2.0.ZU;2-B
Abstract
We present a microscopic analysis of the instability of the nematic ph ase to chirality when molecular chirality is introduced perturbatively . We show that for central-force interactions the previously neglected short-range biaxial correlations play a crucial role in determining t he cholesteric pitch. We propose a pseudoscalar strength which quantif ies the chirality of a molecule.