Antiferroelectric behaviour of achiral mesogenic polymer mixtures

X-ray structure determination and pyroelectric and piezoelectric measurements have been carried out on mesogenic mixtures composed of achiral side chain polymers and their monomers. Certain mixtures show antiferroelectric polarization hysteresis loops in the mesophase which was shown to be a bilayered smectic C, while the two components of the mixtures taken alone show no antiferroelectricity. The results obtained on the polymer-monomer mixtures are interpreted in terms of the smectic C structure with alternating tilt which, from a symmetry viewpoint, is allowed to be antiferroelectric. The antiferroelectric mixtures, on being cooled to the glassy state under a d.c. electric field applied, reveal high pyroelectric coefficients with prospects for application as IR detectors.