Temperature Dependence of the Electroclinic Effect in the Twist-Bend Nematic Phase
, Patrick Davidson 2, Geoffrey R. Luckhurst 3, Irena Dokli 4, Anamarija Knežević 4, Andreja Lesac 4, Daniel A. Paterson 5, Rebecca Walker 5, John M. D. Storey 5, Corrie T. Imrie 5 and Ivan Dozov 1,2,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Short-pitch LC are interesting and have potential applications. However, the intrinsic challenges deteriorate their applications to real devices. Authors reported overcoming one of the problems of twist-bend NLC, which is interesting in the related fields. I would like to recommend this report for publication after a minor revision.
1. Introduction is quite long. I suggest reducing the introduction part. For example, remove the first two paragraphs. Or the first 2 pages of the manuscript can be rewritten briefly.
2. I found several typos. For example, Abstract Line No: 26-29. Check other parts of the manuscript as well.
Author Response
Thank you for your suggestions. We shortened the introduction following your advice.
We have not found typo errors in the Abstract.
Reviewer 2 Report
This article is devoted to the experimental determination using electro-optical measurements of the temperature dependence of the “electroclinical” effect in four twisting-bending nematic (NTB), namely in dimers CB7CB, CB9CB, CB6OCB and BNA76. For all compounds, the thermal dependences of the conical angle and the pitch near the N-NTB transition correspond to the theoretically predicted power law. The authors point to the fact that the correspondence between the measured and predicted power exponent remains only qualitative, which requires improvement of theoretical models.
The authors explain these inconsistencies with assumptions made in the process of data interpretation and model improvement, which should take into account two factors that have been neglected so far: the relationship of the nematic order parameter with the parameters defining the heliconic structure of NTB, and the biaxis of the tensor of the nematic order parameter in the NTB phase.
The article is written in a clear language and should undoubtedly be published in the journal of Crystals.
A few comments need to be taken into account before publishing:
1. In line 44, a comma should be inserted after equation (1).
2. In line 91, what does “FFTEM research" mean?
3. In line 217, what does “cte” means?
4. In line 227 it is written “
” and 
are functions of nematic constants”, what functions!
5. What is the symbol on lines 301 and 763!
Author Response
Thank you for your suggestions. We followed all of them. In particular, on point 3 we changed all over the manuscript the French abbreviation for constant "cte" in the power-law expressions by the symbol "proportional".
On point 5 we note that the “strange” symbols that drew your attention are due to the bad rendering of some MathType expressions on some versions of the Word software, related to the lack of some specific fonts. Note that the attached pdf file is correct in this respect.
Reviewer 3 Report
The authors report on the electroclinic effect (ECE) in the twist-bend nematic (TBN) phase.
They have measured the temperature dependence of ECE in four compounds exhibiting TBN phase over a wide temperature range.
A comparison of the experimental results with the predictions of theoretical models has been made, and substantial disagreements have been found.
The authors highlight some possible sources for these disagreements, and suggest directions for the possible improvement of the models.
The results are presented clearly, and the manuscript is written exceptionally well. Despite the rather extensive length, the manuscript is easy and enjoyable to read.
Therefore, I suggest the publication of the manuscript in Crystals as it is.
I have only two minor remarks (mainly for the editorial finalization of the manuscript):
1) the meaning of "cte", first mentioned in line 217 is not defined. Although, the meaning of it is easy to figure out, the notation is rather unconventional, and therefore, the definition is desirable.
2) strange characters in lines 301, 654 and 763 should be omitted.
Author Response
Thank you for your suggestions. We followed all of them. In particular, we changed all over the manuscript the French abbreviation for constant "cte" in the power-law expressions by the symbol "proportional".
The “strange” symbols that drew your attention are due to the bad rendering of some MathType expressions on some versions of the Word software, related to the lack of some specific fonts. Note that the attached pdf file is correct in this respect.
