Dielectric properties of mixtures of a bent-core and a calamitic liquid crystal

Abstract

Dielectric spectroscopy measurements have been performed on a bent-core nematic liquid crystal and on its binary mixtures with a calamitic nematic. We have detected more dispersions in the bent-core compound than in the calamitic one, including one at an unusually low frequency of a few kilohertz. The dispersions detected in the mixtures have been identified and the spectra have been split into contributions of the constituents. In order to connect the dielectric increment with the molecular dipole moment we have applied a sophisticated conformational calculation not performed before for a large, flexible mesogen molecule with numerous polar groups.