A bent-shape liquid crystal compound with antiferroelectric triclinic-monoclinic phase transition

Electro-optical and polarization current measurements on 1,3-phenylene-bis[4-(3-fluoro-4-decyloxyphenyliminomethyl)benzoate] (3F-10-O-PIMB) revealed a second order phase transition between two antiferroelectric 'smectic banana' phases. The observations show that the switching between the ferroelectric states in the higher temperature ( HT) phase requires higher thresholds than in the lower temperature ( LT) phase. It is hypothesized that the HT phase has a lower (triclinic, C-1) symmetry, than that of the LT phase ( monoclinic, C-2). It is also shown that electric fields can induce transitions between different 'smectic banana' phases.