Mesomorphic and physicochemical properties of liquid crystal mixture composed of chiral molecules with perfluorinated terminal chains

New binary mixture of thermotropic liquid crystalline compounds, possessing both ferro- and antiferroelectric smectic C* phases, has been studied by complementary methods: calorimetric, X-ray powder diffractometry and electro-optic. Additionally, quantum-chemical model based on the density functional theory was also applied. It was found that mixture studied did not exhibit antiferroelectric phase at any rate of heating or cooling in contradiction to its ingredients. On the other hand it has a wide temperature range of ferroelectric smectic C* phase, which is invariant with respect to different heating and cooling rates within the range of thermal hysteresis. Furthermore, temperature dependence of switching time and spontaneous polarization were measured.