High Performance Room Temperature Nematic Liquid Crystals Based on Laterally Fluorinated Isothiocyanato-Tolanes

High birefringence and low viscosity isothiocyanates liquid crystal single compounds and eutectic mixtures, based solely on laterally fluorinated aromatic rigid core structures, are reported. Extraordinarily high values of figure-of-merit were observed at room temperature and also elevated temperatures for the nematic mixtures we formulated. Potential applications of such mixtures for laser beam steering at lambda = 1.55 mu m using optical phased arrays are emphasized.