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Article Dans Une Revue Physical Review E : Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics Année : 2010

Criticality of an isotropic-to-smectic transition induced by anisotropic quenched disorder.

Résumé

We report combined optical birefringence and neutron scattering measurements on the liquid crystal 12CB nanoconfined in mesoporous silicon layers. This liquid crystal exhibits strong nematic-smectic coupling responsible for a discontinuous isotropic-to-smectic phase transition in the bulk state. Confined in porous silicon, 12CB is subjected to strong anisotropic quenched disorder: a short-ranged smectic state evolves out of a paranematic phase. This transformation appears continuous, losing its bulk first-order character. This contrasts with previously reported observations on liquid crystals under isotropic quenched disorder. In the low temperature phase, both orientational and translational order parameters obey the same power law.

Dates et versions

hal-00659549 , version 1 (13-01-2012)

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Citer

Gilbert Chahine, Andriy V Kityk, Klaus Knorr, Ronan Lefort, Mohammed Guendouz, et al.. Criticality of an isotropic-to-smectic transition induced by anisotropic quenched disorder.. Physical Review E : Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, 2010, 81 (3 Pt 1), pp.031703. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevE.81.031703⟩. ⟨hal-00659549⟩
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