Physics – Condensed Matter – Soft Condensed Matter
Scientific paper
2008-10-02
Physics
Condensed Matter
Soft Condensed Matter
4 pages, 3 figures, Physical Review Letters (in press)
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.187801
The optical birefringence of rod-like nematogens (7CB, 8CB), imbibed in parallel silica channels with 10 nm diameter and 300 micrometer length, is measured and compared to the thermotropic bulk behavior. The orientational order of the confined liquid crystals, quantified by the uniaxial nematic ordering parameter, evolves continuously between paranematic and nematic states, in contrast to the discontinuous isotropic-to-nematic bulk phase transitions. A Landau-de Gennes model reveals that the strength of the orientational ordering fields, imposed by the silica walls, is beyond a critical threshold, that separates discontinuous from continuous paranematic-to-nematic behavior. Quenched disorder effects, attributable to wall irregularities, leave the transition temperatures affected only marginally, despite the strong ordering fields in the channels.
Huber Patrick
Kityk Andriy V.
Knorr Klaus
Lefort Ronan
Morineau Denis
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