Photonic Bandgap in Achiral Liquid Crystals—A Twist on a Twist
Damian Pociecha, Nataša Vaupotič, Magdalena Majewska, Ewan Cruickshank, Rebecca Walker, John M. D. Storey, Corrie T. Imrie, Cheng Wang, Ewa Górecka
Abstract
Achiral mesogenic molecules are shown to be able to spontaneously assemble into liquid crystalline smectic phases having either simple or double-helical structures. At the transition between these phases, the double-helical structure unwinds. As a consequence, in some temperature range, the pitch of the helix becomes comparable to the wavelength of visible light and the selective reflection of light in the visible range is observed. The photonic bandgap phenomenon is reported for achiral liquid crystals.
Topics & Concepts
Materials scienceLiquid crystalPhotonic crystalTwistHelix (gastropod)Band gapMesogenOptoelectronicsOpticsPhotonicsWavelengthReflection (computer programming)Visible spectrumStructural colorationChirality (physics)CrystallographyLiquid crystallineNambu–Jona-Lasinio modelProgramming languageEcologyComputer scienceMathematicsQuarkPhysicsChiral symmetry breakingSnailChemistryQuantum mechanicsBiologyGeometryLiquid Crystal Research AdvancementsPlant Reproductive BiologyMolecular spectroscopy and chirality