  It is known that the chiral interaction described by Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya
(DMI) term lead to the plethora of topological structures of magnetic spins,
such as helical or skyrmion phases. Here we present the that analogues
electrical DMI can lead to similar structural complexity of electric dipoles in
soft matter. We report on a new polar liquid phase in which achiral molecules
spontaneously form a heliconical structure. The helical pitch is comparable to
the wavelength of visible light and unwinds critically at the transition to a
uniformly polar, ferroelectric nematic phase. Although this new liquid
crystalline phase resembles the twist-bend nematic phase, the mechanism of its
formation is different and is attributed to electrical interactions that cause
non-collinear arrangement of electric dipoles, similarly as observed for spins
in magnetic systems.
