LAUSR

We report the impact of dispersion of bismuth ferrite nanoparticles (BF-NPs) on the helical structure of a ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) in two ways: on the surface and into the bulk of FLC. The optical textural observations of the FLC sample cell with BF-NPs on the surface of the substrate show a remarkable change of three different domains having varied molecular orientation in comparison to pure and bulk dispersed FLC, where only two types of domains of different molecular orientations are observed at room temperature. These observations have confirmed distinct molecular dynamics in all the samples. The dispersion of BF-NPs in the bulk of FLC causes a slight shift in a chiral smectic C* (SmC*)–chiral smectic A* (SmA*) phase transition toward a higher temperature. The Goldstone mode (GM) relaxation frequency of the bulk dispersed sample is shifted toward the higher frequency as the temperature is increased and finally is suppressed once the transition from the SmC* phase to the SmA* phase occurs. A...