Theoretical investigation of helix distortion and dielectric spectrum of antiferroelectric liquid crystals

Abstract Landau–Ginzburg equation is utilized to investigate the dielectric spectrum of an antiferroelectric liquid crystal (AFLC). Two collective modes, one associated with the in-phase motion at the low frequency side and the other related with the anti-phase motion at the high frequency side, are discussed in detail utilizing the concept of bulk free energy of the material in terms of the pair interactions of two adjacent Smectic layers. The phenomenon of helix distortion related to the in-phase motion is observed theoretically based on the interlayer interactions of the AFLC system. The anti-phase mode related to the degree of the antiferroelectric ordering is also an important phenomenon depending on the layer-to-layer interactions. Lastly we have theoretically obtained the critical field for helix unwinding with the model proposed by de Gennes.