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Modulated antiferroelectric smectic phases with orthogonal and tilted structures

Jordan Hobbs1, Calum J. Gibb2, William C. Ogle2, Peter Medle Rupnik3,4, Natan Osterman3,4, Nerea Sebastián3, Alenka Mertelj3, and Richard. J. Mandle1,2,*

  • *Contact author: r.j.mandle@leeds.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043085 – Published 22 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5l14-qxxt

Abstract

The discovery of the ferroelectric nematic phase has brought with it a plethora of new polar liquid crystalline (LC) phases. One in particular is the antiferroelectric smectic A SmAAF phase. In this article, we show via observation and analysis of satellite peaks in the x-ray scattering pattern that the structure of the SmAAF phase involves a one-dimensional density modulation of ≈10–20 nm lateral to the smectic layer normal. Further, we demonstrate a previously undiscovered phase where the antiferroelectric order is maintained into a tilted smectic phase demonstrating the robustness of the underlying frustration that leads to the modulated structure. We suggest that the modulations are only in a single dimension and appear parallel to the tilt plane. This new phase also shows a significantly different and complex response to an electric field from other discovered polar LC phases due to the ability to modulate both tilt and polarization direction.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 043085– Published 22 October, 2026
  • Received 13 February 2026
  • Accepted 31 August 2026
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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