Polarization-driven twisted states in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals under confinement

Polarization-driven twisted states in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals under confinement | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Polarization-driven twisted states in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals under confinement Anna Savchenko, Ebba Grönfors, Rachel Tuffin, Melanie Klasen-Memmer, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8431209/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 17 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals (FNLC) are 3D fluids with a giant spontaneous electric polarization (P) in the order of several microcoulombs per centimeter squared. In an unconstrained sample this high P has recently been shown to twist the nematic director field in order to reduce the electrostatic energy [P. Kumari et al., Science 383, 1364 (2024)]. By studying an FNLC, namely AUUQU-2-N, in a wedge cell with continuously increasing thickness, we now show that the polarization-driven twist modes depend on the local distance d between the lower and the upper plates of the wedge. For planar and parallel anchoring conditions of the nematic director we find a uniform, non-twisted director field at small d below 2 µm and a likely 2π-twisted director field above a certain critical thickness of about 5 µm. At intermediate d we observe locally twisted director fields but with zero total twist between the lower and the upper surface. We coin these twisted director configurations with alternating twist sense "mesotwisted". In view of these polarization-driven twist instabilities in FNLCs, the uniform state at small d might be considered as a surface-stabilized ferroelectric nematic, an interesting analogy to surface stabilized ferroelectric chiral smectics. Physical sciences/Materials science Physical sciences/Physics Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SImanuscriptSavchenko.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 17 Apr, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 05 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 05 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 30 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 08 Jan, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 08 Jan, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 07 Jan, 2026 Editor invited by journal 07 Jan, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 06 Jan, 2026 First submitted to journal 06 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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In an unconstrained sample this high P has recently been shown to twist the nematic director field in order to reduce the electrostatic energy [P. Kumari et al., Science 383, 1364 (2024)]. By studying an FNLC, namely AUUQU-2-N, in a wedge cell with continuously increasing thickness, we now show that the polarization-driven twist modes depend on the local distance d between the lower and the upper plates of the wedge. For planar and parallel anchoring conditions of the nematic director we find a uniform, non-twisted director field at small d below 2 µm and a likely 2π-twisted director field above a certain critical thickness of about 5 µm. At intermediate d we observe locally twisted director fields but with zero total twist between the lower and the upper surface. We coin these twisted director configurations with alternating twist sense \"mesotwisted\". In view of these polarization-driven twist instabilities in FNLCs, the uniform state at small d might be considered as a surface-stabilized ferroelectric nematic, an interesting analogy to surface stabilized ferroelectric chiral smectics.","manuscriptTitle":"Polarization-driven twisted states in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals under confinement","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-12 05:10:06","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8431209/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-02-06T03:28:01+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-02-05T11:24:09+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-01-30T21:39:42+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"91468648747877858494630392909231962079","date":"2026-01-10T08:04:44+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"26121751538710635934120646515743321690","date":"2026-01-09T03:00:47+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-01-08T07:20:01+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-01-08T04:50:40+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2026-01-08T04:40:44+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-01-06T10:10:04+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2026-01-06T10:07:38+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"193f8886-41da-4722-b426-24e9c1643811","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 12th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":60917081,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science"},{"id":60917082,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-20T16:01:22+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-8431209","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-48218-7","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2026-04-17 15:57:51","publishedOnDateReadable":"April 17th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-12 05:10:06","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-026-48218-7","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-48218-7","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8431209","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8431209","identity":"rs-8431209","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}