  Several attractive properties of hydrocarbon-linked mesogenic dimers have
been discovered, a major feature of these has been the ability of dimers under
confinement to form periodic patterns. At least six different types of
stripe-like periodic patterns can be observed in these materials under various
experimental conditions. Our most recent finding is the discovery of
micrometre-scale periodic patterns at the N-Ntb phase transition interface, and
sub-micrometre scale patterns in the Ntb phase. Layer-like sub-micrometre
patterns were observed using three-photon excitation fluorescence polarizing
microscopy, and these are being reported here.
