Structural properties of the ferrielectric phases of a chiral liquid crystal revealed by dynamic light scattering - art. no. 010704

Dynamic light scattering is used to study the antiferro- and ferrielectric phases in a bulk sample of the chiral liquid crystal R-10OTBBB1M7. Comparis on of the detected fluctuation modes in the two ferriphases to calculated s election rules for their coupling to light are consistent with the distorte d clock structures recently reported by an optical ellipsometry study, but indicate that the distortion has a polar component in both ferriphases. We also find a surprisingly large amplitude and dispersion associated with sca ttering from fluctuations in the tilt angle magnitude. In terms of the disc rete interlayer interaction models currently being used to account for the ferriphases, this finding suggests that the interlayer interaction coeffici ents are of comparable magnitude to the intralayer coefficients that stabil ize the tilt angle.