There are three main phases of these crystals&colon; nematic, smectic, and chiral. He participated in the discovery of smectic C liquid crystal phase. Thus, they adopt ordered structures in the molten phase, e.g. smectic and nematic phases. Hard spherocylinders form not only orientationally ordered nematic, but also positionally ordered smectic phases. In 1974, R.B. Meyer predicted ferroelectricity in chiral smectic liquid crystals by pure symmetry conditions. Chiral smectic liquid crystals are used in ferroelectric LCDs which are fast-switching binary light modulators. Smectic is in the range of temperatures between that of its neighbors nematic and chiral. The word "smectic" originates from the Latin word "smecticus", meaning cleaning, or having soap-like properties.