Loren E. Hough, Chenhui Zhu, Michi Nakata, Nattaporn Chattham, Gert Dantlgraber, Carsten Tschierske, and Noel A. Clark (2007). Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 037802. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.037802
Large optical activity has recently been observed in chiral smectic liquid crystalline phases formed from achiral bent-core molecules. The origin of the optical activity remains unclear and has been attributed to both a helical superstructure and the layer chirality produced by simultaneous tilt and polar ordering of bent-core mesogens in the B2 phase. Here, we directly demonstrate that layer chirality produces optical activity in the well ordered SmCAPA subphase.