Computer simulation of chiral liquid crystal phases VI. A temperature induced helix inversion in a single component cholesteric liquid crystal

A temperature induced helix inversion in a single component system has been observed by investigating a lattice system of chiral molecules using Monte Carlo (MC) computer simulations. The molecules were considered to interact as derived by van der Meer et al. taking into account fourth-order terms describing an anharmonic interaction. On cooling from an isotropic system, a cholesteric phase with a temperature dependent pitch was obtained. The cholesteric phase changed its handedness through an infinite-pitch system as a function of temperature. The study of systems with a small chiral energy contributionnd a large pitch was enabled using self-determined boundary conditions.