文献类型：期刊文献

英文题名：Electrostrictive Structural Transitions and Tensorial Electro-Optics in Mesomorphic Blue Phase Crystals

作者：Zhang, Yuxian[1];Yoshida, Hiroyuki[2,3];Zheng, Zhi-Gang[1];Ozaki, Masanori[2]

机构：[1]East China Univ Sci & Technol, Sch Phys, Shanghai 200237, Peoples R China;[2]Osaka Univ, Grad Sch Engn, Div Elect Elect & Infocommun Engn, Suita, Osaka 5650871, Japan;[3]Kwansei Gakuin Univ, Sch Engn, Sanda, Hyogo 6691330, Japan

年份：2025

卷号：19

期号：5

起止页码：5629

外文期刊名：ACS NANO

收录：;EI(收录号：20250617817033);WOS:【SCI-EXPANDED(收录号:WOS:001413719200001)】；

基金：The authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFA1203700), National Natural Science Foundation of China (T2488302, 62005008, 62275081, 62035008), Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (2021-01-07-00-02-E00107), and "Shuguang Program" of Shanghai Education Development Foundation and Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (21SG29).

语种：英文

外文关键词：liquid crystal; blue phase; electrostriction; lattice distortion; electro-optics

摘要：Electrostriction is present in all dielectrics, but the electrostriction itself is generally minuscule and is even insignificant in low-dielectric-constant materials. Herein, extraordinary electrostriction is found in mesomorphic blue phase (BP) crystals, which are fluidic "giant" crystals with a lattice constant of several hundred nanometers and contain 10(7)-10(8) molecules in each unit cell. In situ optical observations revealed that the BP crystals exhibit -19.5% to 15.7% electrostrictive actuation at weak field strengths (<3 V/mu m), during which a transient monoclinic phase is found. The monoclinic phase occurs in the form of twinning and single crystals successively, which acts as an intermediate state to dominate the pathway of electrostrictive structural transition. Furthermore, we experimentally confirmed that a tensorial crystal-optic effect is induced in BPs by electrostriction, which updates our conventional understanding about liquid crystalline materials that the electro-optics has always been considered as a scalar effect. This work reveals the structural polymorphism in electrostrictive soft crystals, which, in the meantime, provides additional degrees-of-freedom for their advanced applications in nano or micro actuators, flexible electronics, and photonics of next generation, by precisely manipulating the soft crystalline structures and their crystal-optic characteristics.