Home
For authors
Submission status

Current
Archive
Archive (English)
   Volumes 21-40
   Volumes 1-20
   Volumes 41-62
      Volume 62
      Volume 61
      Volume 60
      Volume 59
      Volume 58
      Volume 57
      Volume 56
      Volume 55
      Volume 54
      Volume 53
      Volume 52
      Volume 51
      Volume 50
      Volume 49
      Volume 48
      Volume 47
      Volume 46
      Volume 45
      Volume 44
      Volume 43
      Volume 42
      Volume 41
Search
VOLUME 61 (1995) | ISSUE 10 | PAGE 796
Orientational order and critical behavior of a discoid nematic liquid crystal
First experimental data on the orientational order of the molecules in a discoid nematic liquid crystal are reported. These results are dramatically at odds with the results of a numerical simulation for rigid disk-shaped molecules. The ND-I phase transition is simultaneously close to an isolated Landau critical point and to the tricritical point, as in ordinary calamite nematic liquid crystals with Planckian molecules. This result indicates that conformational degrees of freedom of the molecule play an important role in the features of the ND-I transition. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.