Open AccessMOLECULAR BIAXIALITY AND THE LOWEST SUPERCOO-LING TEMPERATURE FOR NEMATIC LIQUID CRYSTALS IN ISOTROPIC PHASE
Author(s) -
Zhidong Zhang,
Xin-Dian Liu,
Xin Huang
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.48.31
Subject(s) - liquid crystal , supercooling , isotropy , condensed matter physics , phase (matter) , materials science , phase transition , thermodynamics , optics , physics , quantum mechanics
In the molecular field approximation, we study the effect of molecular biaxiality on the lowest supercooling temperature of nematic liquid crystals in isotropic phase. Theoretical results show that by taking into account the molecular biaxiality, the ratio of the lowest supercooling temperature in isotropic phase T* to the nematic-isotropic phase transition temperature Tc, approaches the experimental value. When the molecular biaxiality parameter δ reaches 0.3, the ratio T*/Tc reaches 0.9817, very close to the experimental value of 0.99.