The investigation of the relaxation processes in antiferroelectric liquid crystals by broad band dielectric and electro-optic spectroscopy

Wide band dielectric and electro-optic spectroscopy of an antiferroelectric liquid crystal (AFLC) has been carried out over a range of frequencies from 1 kHz to 1 GHz. The AFLC sample under investigation possesses a variety of different ferri-, ferro-, and antiferro-electric phases. Dielectric spectroscopy of the LC cells in the antiferroelectric phases reveals both collective and individual dynamics of molecules. In the antiferroelectric SmCA phase, three dielectric relaxation processes are found in the absence of the bias and an additional relaxation process appears under the bias field. A solution of the dynamical equation of the director subject to a weak alternating held for the anitferroelectric helix has been found. A comparison of the results of electro-optic and dielectric spectroscopy with a theoretical study enables a determination of the origin of the relaxation processes in antiferroelectric phases. The mechanism for the distortion of the antiferroelectric helix has been determined using dielectric spectroscopy and a non-linear electro-optic technique.