Orthoconic antiferroelectric liquid crystalline materials

New LC materials based on chain fluorinated homologous ester series and exhibiting high tilt angles of the synclinic and anticlinic smectic C phases to the layer surface are synthesized. Their mixtures in surface-stabilized geometry show an unusually huge change of optical properties after application of an electric field during the transition from the antiferroelectric to the ferroelectric state. In the antiferroelectric state they are optically negative uniaxial liquid crystals with the optic axis perpendicular to the cell plates, while in the ferroelectric state they become optically positive biaxial liquid crystals with optic axis parallel to the glass plates. The results of electrooptical characterization of the mixtures are presented. © 2005 Optical Society of America