Design and synthesis of ferroelectric liquid crystals. 24. Incorporation of the disperse red 1 chromophqre into side-by-side dimers for nonlinear optics

ABSTRACTWith excellent processibility on silicon integrated circuits and thermodynamically stable polar order, ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) show great potential as components of fast integrated electro-optic modulators. In order to realize this potential, however, an increase in the magnitude of the electronic secona order nonlinear susceptibility χ(2) is required. This has been problematical since functional arrays with large molecular second order susceptibility β orient with improper supermolecular stereocontrol (i.e. with the charge transfer axis normal to the polar axis) when incorporated into traditional FLC structures. Herein we present examples of a new LC structural class designed to achieve the proper supermolecular structure for large χ(2) in FLCs. The observed sign and magnitude of the ferroelectric polarization of the new mesogens extrapolated from smectic C* mixtures is fully consistent with the desired supermolecular structure.