Abstract
Optical and textural studies have been carried out on special class of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) known as de Vries electroclinic liquid crystals (ELCs) in conjunction with ethanol (C2H5OH). Ethanol shifts the threshold voltage to a low value of 3 V and nearly doubles the optical tilt in the ELC under study. Addition of ethanol shifts the smectic C*–smectic A (Sm C*–Sm A) phase transition temperature remarkably thereby suggesting a strong interaction between ELC and ethanol. The typical randomized structure of de Vries ELCs probably paves way to a possible interaction with ethanol.