論文雑誌「Advanced Materials」のカバーピクチャーを制作しました［理化学研究所］

A new class of cholesteric phase with local polar order is realized by Fumito Araoka and Hiroya Nishikawa in article number 2101305. In general, the periodicity of the conventional cholesteric liquid crystal corresponds to the half-pitch of the helix, having head-and-tail symmetry in the local nematic director. On the other hand, the newly found polar cholesteric liquid crystal is characterized with a full-pitch periodicity of the helix due to the polar degeneracy in the local nematic director. This delivers some unprecedented properties, such as fast electro-optic response based on the photonic band modulated with polar helix deformation.