Orientational order in simple polar liquids: Effect of the quadrupole moment

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out to investigate the effect of the quadrupole moment on the orientational order in polar liquids. A simple model of soft sphere with a point dipole and a linear quadrupole was employed in the current study. It is found that the quadrupole moment shifts the isotropic to ferroelectric nematic and the ferroelectric nematic to solid phase transitions to higher density. The columnar order appears at much lower temperature as compared with the pure dipole liquid.