Dielectric and electrooptical properties of hockey-stick-shaped liquid crystal with a negative dielectric anisotropy

We investigated dielectric properties of a hockey-stick-shaped liquid crystal (HLC). Two dielectric relaxation modes were observed at 0.91 kHz and 4.51 MHz. The low frequency relaxation modes in isotropic, smectic, and nematic phases are related to the motion of ions, collective tilt fluctuation, and rotation around the long molecular axis, respectively. Meanwhile, the high frequency relaxation modes in nematic and smectic phases was due to the rotation around the short axis of the molecules and hindered by the resistance of the ITO layers. We also examined the electrooptical response of the 5.0 wt% HLC-doped commercial nematic liquid crystal (LC) mixtures. The birefringence of the LC mixture was slightly increased, while the falling time and the rotational viscosity was decreased in the nematic phase.