Room temperature heliconical twist-bend nematic liquid crystal†
Abstract
The nanostructured heliconical twist-bend nematic (Ntb) phase is a new condensed phase of matter with unique properties. Here we present the first example of an achiral hybrid bent-core liquid crystal trimer that at temperatures below the conventional N phase exhibits the Ntb phase from approximately 80 °C down through room temperature. The Ntb phase has a helical structure with a period of ~19 nm.