A simple molecular theory for photo-induced smectic phase.

The response of liquid crystals to light is very important for applications of liquid crystals in display and memory devices. Recently experiments have been carried out on liquid crystals doped with photoactive azo compounds. It is seen that UV rays incident on such systems can lower the nematic isotropic transition temperature T (NI). Also, in some mixtures, a photo-induced smectic phase is observed. This is attributed to the change in the trans (longer) isomer to cis (shorter) isomer of the photoactive dopant. We have earlier developed a molecular mean-field model assuming the medium to consist of inter-converting anti-parallel and parallel pairs to explain the molecular origin of "two lengths". The model was used to explain double re-entrance, the effect of electric field on T (NI), etc. This model is modified to include the change of trans to cis isomer which is equivalent to an increase of fraction of parallel (shorter) pairs. The calculated phase diagram with respect to incident UV radiation energy shows an induced smectic phase. This is in qualitative agreement with experimental trends. © EDP Sciences / Società Italiana di Fisica / Springer-Verlag 2011