The “Uniaxial” Smectic E Phase

Abstract For many years there have been only two materials reported which exhibit uniaxial smectic E phases; all smectic E phases exhibited by other materials have been shown to be biaxial. Moreover, a number of these biaxial SE phases are known to have an orthogonal arrangement of the molecules within the layers, proving that the biaxiality is not due to tilting of the molecules within the layers. Therefore, one of the two related materials claimed to give a uniaxial SE phase was re-examined and the SE phase has been shown to be biaxial.