Photo- or Electrically-induced Molecular Organizations Observed in Dichiral Azobenzene Liquid-crystalline Compounds

Azobenzene liquid crystals, possessing two chiral moieties at both of the peripheral ends of the molecular structure, show characteristic chirality-originated liquid-crystalline and physical properties: emergence of stable smectic Q phases, a photoinduced phase transition between 3D liquid crystal phases, and induction of birefringence in the liquid phase. A dichiral compound, of which rigidity of the core is reduced by the introduction of ester groups, showed no smectic Q phases, but exhibited the antiferroelectric smectic C phase. The liquid phase of the less-rigid azo-compound was found to show electrically induced birefringence.