Organic Glasses with Tunable Liquid-Crystalline Order

TitleOrganic Glasses with Tunable Liquid-Crystalline Order
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2018
AuthorsTeerakapibal, R.
Secondary AuthorsHuang, C.B.
Tertiary AuthorsGujral, A.
Subsidiary AuthorsYu, L., and M. D. Ediger
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume120
Start Page055502
Issue5
Date Published02/2018
Abstract

Liquid crystals (LCs) are known to undergo rapid ordering transitions with virtually no hysteresis. We report a remarkable counterexample, itraconazole, where the nematic to smectic transition is avoided at a cooling rate exceeding 20 K/s. The smectic order trapped in a glass is the order reached by the equilibrium liquid before the kinetic arrest of the end-over-end molecular rotation. This is attributed to the fact that smectic ordering requires orientational ordering and suggests a general condition for preparing organic glasses with tunable LC order for electronic applications.

URLhttps://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.055502
DOI10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.055502