Reentrant smectic-[ital C] and smectic-[ital C][sup *] phases in liquid crystals under an electric field
- Solid State Institute and Department of Physics, Technion, Haifa 32000 (Israel)
- Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Oh-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152 (Japan)
Kondo [ital et] [ital al]. [Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 22, L43 (1983)] discovered that both the smectic-[ital C] and smectic-[ital C][sup *] phases in the liquid crystal [ital p]-[ital n]-decyloxybenzylidene-[ital p]-amino-2-methylbutyl-cinnamate are reentrant with temperature for a range of electric fields. We show that the Landau theory with no adjustable parameters provides a semiquantitative explanation of the phase diagram. The double reentrance is due to two fourth-order terms, one chiral and the other achiral, and is intimately related to the maximum in the pitch, unlike the reentrance under magnetic field. The Sm-C--Sm-C[sup *] transition curve displays both main types of second-order phase transition, instability, and nucleation, separated by a first-order segment. [ital p]-azoxy-cinnamate-methyl-2-butanol and other compounds with divergent pitch should also show the double reentrance, but the physical origin is different.
- OSTI ID:
- 7280167
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics; (United States) Vol. 49:5; ISSN PLEEE8; ISSN 1063-651X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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