Dielectric relaxation of 4-cyanophenyl 4′-n-decyloxybenzoate in the isotropic, nematic, and smectic A phases

The paper presents the results of the dielectric relaxation study performed for the isotropic, nematic, and smectic A phases of 4-cyanophenyl 4'-n-decyloxybenzoate (C10H21 O-Ph-COO-Ph-C-N, CP10DB) in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 100 MHz. In the nematic and smectic A phases the permittivity was measured with the probing electric field E parallel to the macroscopic molecular orientation (the director n) The recorded dielectric spectra correspond to the rotation of CP10DB molecules around the short axis and can be quite well described in the framework of the Debye model. It was found that the values of the activation energy for the molecular reorientations in the isotropic and smectic A phases of CP10DB are quite close to each other, whereas in the nematic phase the energy is remarkably higher.