AFM investigations of a sample showing the B2phase

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images reveal that the liquid crystalline B2 phase has no helical superstructure, in contrast to the B7 phase. This is demonstrated on comparing the AFM images of focal-conic domains in the smectic A, cholesteric, B2 and B7 phases. The B2 and B7 phases are phases formed by banana-shaped molecules. The results point to the existence of ferroelectric clusters with a random size distribution which also cause the low frequency dielectric relaxation.