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Antiferroelectric surface layers in a liquid crystal as observed by synchrotron X-ray scattering
E.F. Gramsbergen, W.H. de Jeu, J. Als-Nielsen
To cite this version:
E.F. Gramsbergen, W.H. de Jeu, J. Als-Nielsen. Antiferroelectric surface layers in a liquid crys- tal as observed by synchrotron X-ray scattering. Journal de Physique, 1986, 47 (4), pp.711-718.
�10.1051/jphys:01986004704071100�. �jpa-00210252�
E. F.
Gramsbergen,
W. H. de Jeu(*)
Solid State Physics Laboratory, Melkweg 1, 9751 EP Groningen, The Netherlands and J. Als-Nielsen
Risø National Laboratory, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
(Rep le 28 octobre 1985, accepté le 10 dgcembre 1985)
Résumé. - Nous étudions la réflectivité aux rayons X de la surface d’un cristal liquide dont les molécules ont des groupes terminaux polaires (cyano-); l’instrument est un spectromètre 3 axes à haute résolution combiné à
une source de rayonnement synchroton. A la surface de la phase smectique Al, nous observons le développement
de quelques doubles couches antiferroélectriques qui peuvent être distinguées de la structure en simples couches
du matériau massif. Nous développons un modèle qui sépare la densité électronique en un facteur de forme molé- culaire et des facteurs de structures de mono- et bicouches. Avec un nombre restreint de paramètres ajustables,
ce modèle rend compte de la courbe de réflexion observée, qui est fort complexe. Il permet de conclure que (i)
la première couche moléculaire est disposée avec les queues plutôt que les têtes vers la surface, (ii) le paramètre
d’ordre smectique de la première mono- et bicouche est saturé, (iii) l’organisation antiferroélectrique disparait abruptement et non pas exponentiellement.
Abstract. - The X-ray reflectivity form the surface of a liquid crystal with terminally polar (cyano substituted)
molecules has been studied using a high-resolution triple-axis X-ray spectrometer in combination with a syn- chrotron source. It is demonstrated that at the surface of the smectic A1 phase a few antiferroelectric double layers develop that can be distinguished from the bulk single layer structure. A model is developed that separates the electron density in a contribution from the molecular form factor, and from the structure factor of the mono-
and the bilayers, respectively. With only a few adjustable parameters it accounts for the rather complex observed
reflection curve. It shows that (i) the first molecular layer has tails up rather than heads up, (ii) the smectic order parameter of the first mono- and bilayer is saturated, (iii) the antiferroelectric bilayering does decay rather abruptly
and not exponentially.
1. Introduction.
Since the first observation of a smectic A-smectic A
phase
transition[1],
manyexamples
ofSA polymor- phism
have beenreported.
These casesalways
involvestrongly asymmetric elongated
molecules with alarge
terminaldipole
moment(-CN
or-N02
endsubstituents). Today
at least four « exotic >>SA phases
are known
[2].
The most common type ofphase
withthese
compounds
is the socalledSAd
phase.Disregard- ing
diffusescattering
itgives
inX-ray experiments
a Braggpeak
atQo
=(2 7C//’)
n, where n is the director,1 the molecular
length
and I l’ 2 LApart
from apossible
reentrant nematicphase,
withdecreasing
temperature, thephases SAII Sx
andSA2
may beobserved. The
SA2 phase
haslong-range antiparallel
correlation of the molecular orientation in
neigh- bouring layers (Fig. la).
It is an antiferroelectricphase
that
gives
rise to twoBragg peaks
atQo
=(2 n/0
nand at
approximately Qo/2.
In theSA phase
in additionthe
density
modulation showsphase
fluctuations,leading
to aregular
lattice of « kinks » in theplane
± n
(Fig. lb). Consequently,
theBragg
spot atQo/2
is
split
into two spots situated off axis[3].
TheSAI phase
shows aBragg
spotonly
atQo.
This can beinterpreted
as a « classical >>SA phase
in which theup-down
distribution of the molecular orientation is random.Alternatively
it can be considered as aArticle published online by EDP Sciences and available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/jphys:01986004704071100
712
Fig. 1. - (a) Smectic layering with the orientation of the
aliphatic tail-polar head molecules alternating from layer
to layer. This smectic phase is denoted SA2. (b) In the Sx phase there is a regular domain pattern of up- and down- domains in each layer. (For the sake of clarity the pictures
are drawn for perfect orientational and positional order).
variation on the
SX
structure, in which the lattice of« kinks » is not
regular.
This paper is concerned with an X-ray
study
of thesurface of a
liquid crystal
around the nematic-smectic Alphase
transition. It is shown that - contraryto the bulk - at the surface of the
SAl phase
aBragg
peakdevelops
atQo/2,
which means that at the surfacea series of antiferroelectric double
layers
exist. Theresults are discussed
using
a model for the electrondensity profile
that can beseparated
into contributions of the molecular from-factor, and structure factorsof mono- and
double-layers, respectively.
Theplan
of the paper is as follows : after a short
description
of the
experiment
in the next section, in section 3 the results aregiven.
In section 4 the model is described,including
the type of fits to the data that can be obtained. Section 5 contains aconcluding
discussion.2.
Experimental.
The
compound
studied iswhich has the
following
sequence ofphase
transi-tions
[4] :
A
sample
isprepared
in the form of adroplet covering
f"Ott.I 2 cm2 of a
glass plate
treated such that n is perpen-dicular to the
glass plate
as well as to the upperliquid crystal-air
interface.The
experiments
have been carried out at HASY-LAB
(Hamburg),
with a modifiedhigh-resolution triple-axis
spectrometer that has been described elsewhere[5, 6].
The geometry shown infigure
2 issuch that the
liquid
surface remains horizontal under all circumstances. The horizontalsynchrotron
beamFig. 2. - Scattering diagram and resolution volume for
specular reflection. The angular divergence, e91, of the
incident radiation is determined by the source height (- 2 mm) and the source-to-sample distance (20 m) whereas e62 is determined by the detector slit height (0.20 mm) and
the sample-to-detector distance (620 mm).
is deflected downwards
by
anangle 0, (spread
in thevertical direction
A01 ) by Bragg
reflection from a tilted Gemonocrystal
toproduce
the incident wave vectorkl.
Theheight
of thesample
is controlled such that the beamalways
strikes a fixedposition
of thesample.
The detector is
placed
behind a narrow slit that accepts radiation atangles 02 in
the vertical direction andt/J2 in
the horizontal(out
ofplane)
direction, witha
spread A02
andA4/2, respectively.
As a consequence of translational invariance in the horizontalplane,
the
scattering
cross-section forX-rays
that are eitherspecularly
reflected from the flat surface orBragg
scattered from the smectic
layers parallel
to the surface, isproportional
to6(Q.,) 6(Qy) [7].
The reso-lution of the spectrometer tuned to this radiation is indicatetd
by
theparallelogram
infigure
2, with02 = 81
andt/J2
= 0.Scattering
from the bulk materialcan be monitored
by moving
the detector in the x or zdirection such that
QZ
= 2k,
sin 0 does not intersectwith the resolution
parallelogram.
3. Results.
The
X-ray reflectivity
of the surface has been measuredas a function of
Q.
withQx
=Qy
= 0, for five tempe-ratures around the
NSA1 phase
transitions. Thesignal
from the bulk, obtained
by making
the same scans witha
slight
offset inQ"
was subtracted to ’obtain the surfacereflectivity R(6z)
In order to facilitate com-parison
with the theoreticalreflectivity
from the modelto be described below, e result has been devided
by
thereflectivity calculated
from Fresnel’s law,RF(Q.)-
Thisquantity gi s
thereflectivity
for radia-tion incident on a
plan r
dielectricdiscontinuity,
The
reflectivity
dividedby
Fresnel’s law,RZ(Qz)I RF(Qz)
isdepicted
infigure
3. In thisfigure Qz
is the value of the wavevector transfer inside the
liquid crystal,
which is lower than the external value accord-ing
toQ’in = Qi out - Q 2.
Thepeak
at6,/6o = 1
with
Qo = 0.215 A-1 corresponds
to the smecticlayers
as apretransitional
effect in the nematicphase
when the
NSAL phase
transition isapproached.
Thecorresponding periodicity
isapproximately equal
tothe
length
of a stretched molecule. Thelayers
extendto a
depth çL(T)
below the surface,with ÇL diverging
at the transition temperature. The scan at the lowest
Fig. 3. - The measured reflectivity R(Q), relative to the calculated Fresnel reflectivity RF(Q), versus wavevector
transfer Q = 2 k sin 0 relative to Qo = 2 x/L = 0.215 A-1,
Notice the logarithmic scale on the ordinate. Data for
each temperature have been displaced by one decade. The
full line is the best least squares fit of a model described in the text.
at
Q.IQO
= 0.55. Since allpeaks
areasymmetric
eachof them may be
parameterized by
itsposition, height,
width and skewness. This would lead
altogether
to12 parameters to fit the data at each temperature.
We shall in the
following
section describe aphysical
model with much fewer
adjustable
parameters.4. Model.
We shall first
give
aqualitative interpretation
of thedata.
At the interface between
liquid
and vapour there will be apronounced tendency
for the molecules tobe oriented so the
aliphatic
tail ispointing
towardsthe vapour,
consequently
there will be an oriented toplayer
of molecules.The nematic
phase
issusceptible
to smectic Alayering
and since onelayer
isalready
formed at the top, it is followedby
anotherlayer
below, alayer
below that, and so on. The
penetration depth
of suchlayers, ÇL’
increases as the temperatureapproaches
the nematic-smectic A transition temperature because the
susceptibility
forlayering
becomes more and morepronounced.
Thislayering
appears in the reflectioncurve
R(Q)IRF(Q)
as apeak
aroundQ/Qo
= 1 whereQo
= 27c/(one layer thickness).
Thepeak
getshigher
and
sharper
asÇL
increases in accordance with the data aroundQ/Qo
= 1 infigure
3.However, the top
layer
is oriented. If there is atendency
for molecules to stick their headstogether
rather than head-tail, then the second
layer
will beoriented
opposite
to the firstlayer.
The twolayers together
form abilayer
andbilayering
will penetrate into the bulk with anotherpenetration depth çp,
where the index P indicates
polarization,
whereasindex L in
ÇL
indicateslayering.
Since there is no particular response topolarization
in the nematicphase
one must expectçp
to be smallerthan ÇL
andalso to be
roughly independent
of temperature. Since theperiod
ofbilayering
is twice as large that for the smecticlayering,
it appears as apeak
in the reflectedwave around
Q/Qo
= 0.5. Since this wave can interfere eitherconstructively
ordestructively
with theordinary
Fresnel reflected wave, one can with the proper
phases
account for a
peak
aroundQ/Qo
0.5 and an anti-peak »
forQ/Qo >
0.5 as observed in the reflectioncurve.
We shall now cast this
qualitative picture
into aquantitative
model. To this end we recall the basic714
relation between the
reflectivity
and the electrondensity :
We shall first consider the electron
density
in asingle
molecule shown in
figure
4a.Fig. 4. - (a) Position of atoms in the molecule shown in the plane of the molecular-axis and the two benzene rings
closest to the polar head. The third benzene ring is perpen- dicular to the drawing plane and appears as a cross-hatched
strip. The numbers coincide with the indices k in table I.
(b) The electron density around each atom is assumed to be a Gaussian distribution of width a. The resulting density
distribution along the molecular axis relative to the bulk
density is shown.
From
analogy
with similar chemical bonds it seemsplausible
that the two benzenerings
closest to thepolar
head areapproximately co-planar,
but theplane
of the third benzenering
is turned over aboutn/2.
With bondlength
and bondangles
taken fromspace-filling
molecular models, this leads to aquanti-
tative
projection
of the molecule as shown infigure
4a.However, the final results
depend only
veryslightly
on the
assumptions concerning
the relative orienta- tions of the benzenerings.
The electron
density projected
on the molecular axis isapproximated by
asuperposition
of Gaussians,Zk( 2 c Q) -1 exp[ - ( - (k)2/2 U2],
centred at thedifferent atomic
positions (k
in the molecule and witha
prefactor Zk equal
to the atomic number(6
for C,8 for
CH2,
7 for Netc.).
The width a of the Gaussian istaken to be 1
A.
The valuesof (k
andZk
are listed intable I. The
resulting density/(0
with -L/2
CTable I. - Atomic numbers
Zk
and coordinatesCk of
the atoms and groups in the molecules
investigated.
The indices k coincide with the numbers in
figure
4a.L/2 normalized to an average value of
unity,
is shownin
figure
4b.It should be noted that this
density
also represents thedensity
of afully polarized layer.
We shall decom-pose/(0
into its average value ofunity plus
a sym-metric part
f.(C) plus
anantisymmetric partJ:a(C) :
where L1 is
unity
for -L/2
(L/2
and zeroelsewhere. Such a
decomposition
is useful because thesymmetric
part ofh«()
represents thedensity
of arandomly
oriented layer. It follows then that the anti-symmetric
part off.(C)
must represent the difference between acompletely polarized
and arandomly
oriented
layer.
Since the master formula for thereflectivity
isexpressed
in terms of the Fourier trans-form of the
density p(z)
it isintuitively
clear that weThe
integration
limits are betweenquotation
marksbecause the Gaussian
smearing implies
that the limits extendbeyond - ! Land!
L,respectively.
In
evaluating C(Q)
andS(Q)
the Gaussian model of the molecule isparticular
convenient.Explicit
formulae are
given
below and the functionsC(Q)
andS(Q)
are shown infigure
5. It is found that theshape
of
S(Q)
isquite
sensitive for theposition
of theorigo
of the
coordinates C
We shall now return to evaluation of the Fourier transform
O(Q),
cf.equation (1c). Assuming complete
Fig. 5. - The deviation from unity of the normalized molecular electron distribution is decomposed into its symmetric and antisymmetric parts. The corresponding
cosine- and sine-transforms versus wavevector Q/Qo are
shown.
It is now assumed that the
shape
of thelayer density is
invariant andequal tof,(C)
+( - 1)"f.(C)
but withdecaying amplitudes
for mono- andbi-layer
structure :We then find
The first term
originates
from the averagedensity p (step-function),
smearedby
a Gaussian surface fuzzi-ness due to thermal vibrations and a
phase
factorexp[iQ,o]
that allows for adisplacement Co
of the step function relative to theorigo
of the molecularcoordinates.
We shall now discuss a convenient mathematical form of the
amplitude
functionsAs(n ; ÇL)
andAa(n ; çp).
For
clarity
we shall for a moment omit the indiceson A and 03BE. The
simplest
form ofA(n ; Q
would beHowever the data, in
particular
for thebi-layer
cor-relation function,
require
a moresophisticated decay
than
just
asimple exponential.
One reason is that theamplitude
is at its saturation value ofunity
at the toplayer
and it is therefore natural that the correlation function starts out with a horizontal tangent. Onepossibility
is then the function,or more
general
The
properties
of this function and its Fourier trans- form are discussed inAppendix
1.716
With the
ingredients
of the model described above fits to theexperimental
data can be obtained ofexcellent
quality,
as shown as full lines infigure
3.The values of the parameters used are
given
in table II.Table II. - Least-squares
fit
valuesof
the parameters in the model described in the text. Thelayer
spacing inthe bulk
SAt phase
isLo
= 29.2 A. The valueof 03BEL
labelled with an asterix is
in fact
the resolution width.The index J
of
the decayfunction Yj(x)
is given bothfor layering (JL)
andpolarization (Jp).
5. Discussion.
The first observations of smectic
layering
free surface inliquid crystals
in the nematicphase [6-8]
involvedonly
onelayer spacing
and incomparison
tofigure
3only
data in theregion
0.9Q/Qo
1.1 wereimportant.
These data wereanalysed by
apurely phenomenological
model and thequestion
of thedegree
of orientational, or nematic order, at thesurface was not addressed. In the present work the
knowledge
of the structure of the molecules is incor-porated
into the model ofanalysis.
Forcomparison
with earlier work let us for a moment
neglect
theantiferroelectric
layering
andthereby
the third termin
equation (7).
The molecularmodelling
isgiven by
the cosine transform
C(Q)
inequation (7)
and theamplitude
functionAs(n ; ÇL)
can then beinterpreted directly.
We find thatA,
=1 for n = 0, the firstlayer,
which means that the nematic order parameter is
fully
saturated at the surface. The first and second term inequation (7) gives
rise to interference between theordinary
Fresnel wave(first term)
due to the dis-continuity
in refractive index and the wave scattered from thelayered
structure(second term).
We havein the present
analysis
as well as inprevious
work[8]
introduced a
phenomenological phase
factorexp[iQCO]
between these two waves. Inprevious
workit turned out that the
phase
factor gave rise to astrongly asymmetric peak
aroundQ
=Qo
with cons-tructive interference for
Q Qo
and destructive inter- ference forQ
>Qo.
The data for the present material does notdisplay
thisphenomenon
aroundQ
=Qo.
However, the spectrum around
Q/Qo
= 0.5 doesindeed exhibit strong interference effects
arising
fromthe antiferroelectric surface
layers.
The molecularmodel which has been introduced in the present work enters
solely by
its Fourier transformsgiven
infigure
5. With this model we find thephysically
verysimple
andappealing
result that the toplayer
hascomplete
orientational order(all
molecules have tailsup)
and in the nextlayer
all heads are up. This antiferroelectricdegree
of orderdecays
ratherrapidly
as one goes further away from the surface. This
decay
is not
exponential
but isqualitatively
rather like thecurve labelled J = 5 in
figure
6. Thepenetration depth 03BEp
isonly weakly
temperaturedependent
asshown in table II.
Fig. 6. - The penetration into the bulk of mono-layers
and bi-layers is not a simple exponential but has the charac- teristic shape of a logistic curve which is modelled by the
function Yj(x) shown versus x/J(J + 1). The definition of
YJ(x) is given in equation (A .1 ) in the text
As far as smectic
layering, independent
of orientation of the molecules within alayer,
is concerned, thepenetration
is muchdeeper
and exhibits a strong temperaturedependence.
Inprevious
work[6]
it wasfound that the
penetration depth C;L
coincides with the correlationrange C;
for smectic fluctuations in bulk.This is very
likely
to be true also in the present case, but we have not yetcompleted
astudy
of the bulkproperties.
In the bulk one can also observe fluctuation of antiferroelectric doublelayers.
It will beinteresting
to compare the bulk correlation range with
jp reported
here.
The r.m.s. values of the
smearing
parameters Us for the surface and a for the molecular electrondensity
areroughly equal.
The values obtained, 4 Aand 4.5
A, respectively,
seemquite
reasonable.The value found for
jo
indicates, somewhat sur-prisingly,
that the actual surface is elevated about 5 A above the first smecticlayer.
Possibleexplanations
are :
absorption
of water on the surface, or the presence ofdecomposition products
of the molecules, that arelying
on the surface, or a different molecular confor- mation in the toplayer.
SAl phase closely SA2 phase,
which is of interest in context with some recenttheoretical models
[8].
Then theSAl phase
should bedistinguished
from a « classical >>SA phase.
Apossible
model is an
SAZ
structure withlocally
brokenup-down
symmetry and in additionphase
fluctuationssimilarly
as in the
SA phase,
butrandomly
distributed.Finally
it should be noted that the present obser- vation of surface doublelayers
is alsohighly
relevantfor the
interpretation
ofX-ray
results on freestanding
smectic films
[9].
It indicates that below a critical number of smecticlayers
the two surfaces of the filmcan induce a
phase
transition.Acknowledgment.
The authors wish to thank Prof. G.
Heppke (TU, Berlin)
forproviding
them with the substance. The excellent research conditionsprovided by Hasylab
are
gratefully acknowledged.
This work form part of the research program of the« Stichting
voorFundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie »
(Foundation
for Fundamental Research on Matter,
FOM)
andwas made
possible by
financial support from the« Nederlandse
Organisatie
voor ZuiverWetenschap- pelijk
Onderzoek »(Netherlands Organization
for theAdvancement of Pure Research,
ZWO).
Appendix.
Consider the function
Yj(x)
definedby
the finite series :The derivatives of
Yj(x)
are :Therefore, for J > 0,
Yj(x)
starts out with a horizontal tangent at x = 0 anddecays
with convex curvatureuntil at x = J the curvature becomes concave. With
increasing
Jhigher
andhigher
derivatives ofYj(x)
vanishes at x = 0 so in terms of the variable
x/(J + 1)
the
shape
gets more andsquare-like.
Indeed, thelimiting shape
for J = oo is a square asimmediately
inferred from the
identity
e+x= E Xj/j !
1where +
applies
for A =As and - applies
for A =Aa.
It is convenient to
interchange
the summation over jand n
with
in terms of the
complex
variablewhere
again
+applies
for A= As
and - for A =Aa.
The summation in
equation (A. 5)
is carried out forincreasing
valuesof j starting with j
= 0 :By differentiating (A. 8)
with respect to a on both sides we obtainor
By differentiating equation (A. 9)
with respect to a one obtainss2(Q),
and so on. Theexplicit expressions
forThus with the
particular
choice ofA(n) given by equations (A. 3)
and (A .1 ) the structure factor, whichin
principle
is a sum over aninfinite
number oflayers,
is evaluated as a
finite
sum of(J
+1)
terms.718
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