Layered anisotropic liquids: deformation of structures in electric and magnetic fields

Abstract

On the basis of the analysis of the free energy of a viscoelastic anisotropic layer liquid, a chiral ferroelectric liquid crystal C^∗ , located in a thin cell in a ”bookshelf“ geometry the possibility of the smectic layers periodic distortions in the external magnetic H and electric E fields applied perpendicularly and along the plates, respectively, are investigated. The polar angle θ formed by the unit vector n and the normal a to the smectic planes is fixed, and the appearing Helfrich–Yuro distortions u of the smectic layers are assumed to be small in the proposed continuum model of the liquid ferroelectrics.