COMPUTER-SIMULATION OF CHIRAL LIQUID-CRYSTAL PHASES VI - A TEMPERATURE-INDUCED HELIX INVERSION IN A SINGLE-COMPONENT CHOLESTERIC LIQUID-CRYSTAL

A temperature induced helix inversion in a single component system has been observed by investigating a lattice system of chiral molecules u sing Monte Carlo (MC) computer simulations. The molecules were conside red to interact as derived by van der Meer et nl. taking into account fourth-order terms describing an anharmonic interaction. On cooling fr om an isotropic system, a cholesteric phase with a temperature depende nt pitch was obtained. The cholesteric phase changed its handedness th rough an infinite-pitch system as a function of temperature. The study of systems with a small chiral energy contribution and a large pitch was enabled using self-determined boundary conditions.