Eur. Phys. J. E (2016) 39: 76
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2016-16076-7

Regular Article

DH^* in chiral smectics under electric field

¹ Laboratoire de Physique des Systèmes Complexes, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, 33 rue Saint-Leu, 80039, Amiens, France
² Institute of Solid State Physics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Tzarigradsko Chaussee 72, 1784, Sofia, Bulgaria
³ Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, UMR 8502 CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Bât. 510, 91405, Orsay Cédex, France

^* e-mail: claire.meyer@u-picardie.fr

Received: 4 May 2016
Accepted: 15 July 2016
Published online: 28 July 2016

Abstract

The behavior of double helices (DH^* formed in the temperature interval N^* -SmA^* in compounds of non-chiral liquid crystals doped with chiral molecules was investigated. Two different systems presenting left-handed and right-handed chirality were studied. A statistics of the handedness of the DH^* revealed a correlation with the mixture chirality, as predicted theoretically in C. Meyer, Yu. A. Nastishin, M. Kleman, Phys. Rev. E 82, 031704 (2010). By applying a gradually increasing AC electric field, one can observe the shrinking of the cylinder circumscribing the DH^* . This shrink is accompanied by a reduction of the DH^* 's pitch. This effect was similar to the one produced by the decrease of temperature in the absence of the field.