Structural Investigations on Smectic Blue Phases

Abstract

Smectic blue phases ( ${\mathrm{BP}}_{\mathrm{Sm}}$) are thermotropic liquid crystalline phases which exhibit both three-dimensional orientational order, such as classical blue phases, and smectic positional order. ${\mathrm{BP}}_{\mathrm{Sm}}$ appear as the three-dimensional counterpart of twist grain boundary phases. X-ray scattering and optical polarizing microscopy provide information on the hexagonal and cubic symmetries of these new phases.