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IR dichroism and the structure of a homogeneously aligned cell of a chiral smectic antiferroelectric liquid crystal (R)-1-methylheptyl 4-(4(')-dodecyloxybiphenyl-4-ylcarbonyloxy)-3-fluorobenzoate [with acronym (R)-12OF1M7] in a ferrielectric subphase in the temperature range between the antiferroelectric phase (also referred to as Fi2) and the smectic-C*(SmC*) phase are studied using polarized Fourier transform IR spectroscopy. The polarization dependencies of the absorbance for several characteristic bands are quantitatively analyzed for different stages of the electrically induced structural transformations in the sample, including the helix unwinding and the phase transition from the ferriphase to the SmC* phase. A qualitative similarity of the voltage dependence of the normalized angular shift of the IR absorbance profile for the "chiral" carbonyl band to that of the normalized macroscopic polarization is found. The voltage dependent dichroic properties of the sample are analyzed in terms of the molecular structure and unwinding of the helical structure under an external electric field. The rotational orientational biasing of the carbonyl groups around the long molecular axis is confirmed by the spectral data. The analysis of IR dichroic data for the field induced SmC* phase is used to determine the rotational orientational distributions for the carbonyl groups.

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The molecular orientation and the dichroic behavior of the vibrational bands of a homogeneously aligned helical cell containing chiral smectic liquid crystal (R)-(-)-1-methylheptyl 4-(4(')-dodecyloxybiphenyl-4-ylcarbonyloxy)-3-fluorobenzoate are studied at various temperatures as a function of the bias field. These temperatures correspond to the various phase states of the sample at zero field. For those bands that exhibit significant dichroism, the field dependencies of the dichroic parameters (the dichroic ratio and the polarization angle of maximum absorbance) are found to be dependent on temperature, phase state, and helical unwinding. For the SmA* and SmC(*)(alpha) phases, the phenyl band dichroic ratio and the corresponding orientational order parameter are found to be almost independent of the bias field. The temperature dependence of the orientational order for zero field is discussed by taking into account the structures of the phases and the molecular tilt angles. The field dependencies of the phenyl band dichroic parameters for the SmC(*)(A) and SmC(*)(gamma) phases yield results about the distribution of directors in the layers of their unit cells and the state of helical unwinding. The azimuthal orientational distribution function of the carbonyl transition moments with respect to the long molecular axis has been determined. It is found that the degrees of the polar and quadrupolar biasing increase with decrease in temperature and the azimuthal biasing angle for the chiral carbonyl group increases significantly with a reduction in temperature.

The orientational characterisitics and the temperature dependencies of the molecular apparent tilt angle of a partly fluorinated chiral smectic liquid crystal ͑/S/͒-4-͑1-methylheptyloxycarbonyl͒phenyl 4Ј-͓6-͑3,4,4,4-tetrafluoro-3-trifluoromethylbutylcarbonyloxy͒hexyloxy͔ biphenyl-4-carboxylate ͑acronym MH-PHFHHOBC͒ are studied using the polarized Fourier transform infrared ͑FTIR͒ spectroscopy. The molecular orientational distributions and the orientational order parameters for a homogeneously aligned liquid crystalline sample at various temperatures and external electric fields are examined. The analysis uses the dichroic parameters of the phenyl and the carbonyl bands. For a temperature range of 65-80°C corresponding to the antiferroelectric SmC A * phase, the molecular apparent tilt angle lies within the range 43°-44°; antiferroelectric smectic structure being rather close to the orthoconic SmC A * phase. An application of sufficiently high dc field across the cell in its SmA * phase surprisingly shows that the dichroism first increases slowly and then rapidly in two stages and finally a saturated apparent tilt angle of ϳ30°is reached. The IR dichroic data is used to estimate the polar angles and the degree of rotational biasing of the carbonyl groups with respect to the molecular long axis. In the SmA * phase, the sample appears to demonstrate some of the typical properties of a de Vries material.

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