Fig. 4: Cooling-induced anisotropic lattice deformation. | Nature Communications

Fig. 4: Cooling-induced anisotropic lattice deformation.

From: Directed crystalline symmetry transformation of blue-phase liquid crystals by reverse electrostriction

Fig. 4

a, b Temperature-dependent lattice parameters (a, b, and c) of BPLC single crystals formed via (a) direct cooling from 32.1 °C (initial state prepared by REDA) or (b) REDA at the designated temperature. Panel a shows that the crystal transforms from cubic (b = c) to orthorhombic (b < c) symmetry upon cooling. Panel b shows that REDA with zero directing field in the relaxation stage forms a cubic crystal (a\(\sqrt{2}\) = b = c), regardless of temperature. c Lattice parameters of BPLC crystals formed at various applied directing field strengths (ED) of REDA with or without additional cooling (by ~1 °C), showing that the cooling transforms a crystal to one with either the same symmetry but a different lattice-parameter ratio or a different symmetry. C: cubic, O: orthorhombic, T: tetragonal, M: monoclinic, N: homeotropic nematic, *: same symmetry but different lattice-parameter ratio. d Kossel diagrams and optical micrographs of BPLC single crystals with different symmetries formed via REDA. Field strengths are 4.0, 2.6, and 0.0 V/μm for the tetragonal, orthorhombic, and cubic symmetries, respectively. Surface-alignment directions are all from left to right.

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