Abstract
The dynamics of different collective and non-collective modes in a chiral liquid crystalline monomer and its side-chain polymer have been studied by dielectric spectroscopy. The monomer system enabled us to study the temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity when crossing the transition from the SmA* phase directly to the crystal phase. Although the polymer system has a SmA* to SmC* transition, we found that the temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity is radically different from the normally observed behaviour in these phases. The contributions from the soft and Goldstone modes, respectively, are extremely low, a result which is related to the very low value of the spontaneous polarization of the material. At lower temperatures in the SmC* phase, a very weak dielectric absorption located around 50 kHz is observed and discussed in terms of the liberational motion of side chains around the polymer main chain.