Work

Experimental Evidence of the Halperin-Lubensky-Ma Effect in Liquid Crystals

Year: 2001

Type: article

Abstract: The orientational order parameter decrease, due to nematic director macroscopic fluctuations, is obtained by birefringence measurements around the nematic <--> smectic-A transition temperature of the liquid crystal 4'-n-octyl-4-cyanobiphenyl. The measured nematic order reduction shows the same amplitude as the secondary order parameter discontinuity at the transition providing direct evidence of the Halperin-Lubensky-Ma effect. The importance of nematic director thermal fluctuations on the character of the transition is revealed as their quenching by an electric field of approximately 20 V/micrometer restores the second order character of the transition.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.86.1267

Author: Ioannis Lelidis

Institutions: Laboratoire de physique de la matière condensée, Université de Picardie Jules Verne

Language: English

Topic: Liquid Crystal Research Advancements

Subfield: Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W1982989395

FWCI: 1.702

Cites: 34

Cited by: 33

Related to: 10