Relation between physical parameters and thermal stability of liquid-crystal blue phase

Correlations between the stability of blue phases and the physical parameters of liquid-crystal hosts are reported in this study. Experimental results show that liquid-crystal blue phases are more thermostabilized when the dielectric anisotropy is reduced or the elastic constants increased. These correlations can be explained by Defect theory and Landau theory for blue phases. Moreover, the results give us the clues to develop more suitable blue-phase materials for fundamental researches or fast photonic devices. (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3509413]