  The structure of nematic liquid crystals formed by bent-core mesogens (BCMs)
is studied in the context of Monte Carlo simulations of a simple molecular
model that captures the symmetry, shape and flexibility of achiral BCMs. The
results indicate the formation of (i) clusters exhibiting local smectic order,
orthogonal or tilted, with strong in-layer polar correlations and
anti-ferroelectric juxtaposition of successive layers and (ii) large homochiral
domains through the helical arrangement of the tilted smectic clusters, whilst
the orthogonal clusters produce achiral (untwisted) nematic states.

Soft Condensed Matter;Materials Science;Statistical Mechanics