Bilayered smectic phase polymorphism in the dipolar Gay-Berne liquid crystal model

Abstract

We present computer simulations of the Gay–Berne model with a strong terminal dipole. We report the existence of different stable antiferroelectric interdigitated bilayered phases in this model with diverse in-plane organization. The occurrence of these phases depends crucially on the value of the molecular elongation

. For

= 3 we find an interdigitated bilayered smectic-A phase

absent when there is no dipole

and a bilayered smectic-T

or crystal

with positional in-plane tetragonal ordering, different from the hexatic observed in the absence of the molecular dipole. For

=4, bilayered smectic-A and in-plane hexatic-ordered smectic-B

or crystal

phases are observed