Liquid crystalline amorphous blue phase and its large electrooptical Kerr effect

Abstract

An amorphous blue phase III with low and wide thermal range (∼20 °C) including room temperature is induced by doping a bent-core nematic with a strong chiral material. We confirm that the electrooptical response is due to the Kerr effect, with the Kerr constant being up to two orders of magnitude larger than conventional Kerr materials such as nitrobenzene.