Dielectric characteristics of highly ionic antiferroelectric liquid crystalline material

We report dielectric spectroscopy of a room temperature single phase antiferroelectric liquid crystalline material namely (S) + (1-methylheptyloxycarbonyl)2-fluorophenyl 4′-(3-perfluoropropylmethylnoyloxy prop-1-oxy)biphenyl-4-carboxylate in the frequency range 1 Hz to 35 MHz under planar anchoring conditions of the molecules. Dielectric, thermodynamic and texture studies confirm a wide room temperature range single antiferroelectric (SmC⁎a) phase between crystal and isotropic phase of this material. Three relaxation modes (due to collective as well as individual molecular process) appeared in the SmC⁎a phase. The contribution of ionic conductivity in SmC⁎a phase has also been determined.