X-ray studies of the phases and phase transitions of liquid crystals

P. S. Clegg

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arXiv · cond-mat/0501011

X-ray studies of the phases and phase transitions of liquid crystals

P. S. Clegg

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Abstract

This is a short review of recent x-ray diffraction studies of the phases and phase transitions of thermotropic liquid crystals. The areas covered are twist-grain-boundary phases, antiferroelectric phases studied with resonant x-ray diffraction, and smectic phases within gel structures. In all areas x-ray diffraction has played a key role. Nonetheless open questions remain: the nature of the smectic-C variant of the twist-grain-boundary phase, the origin of antiferroelectric phases, and whether novel Bragg glass states exist for smectic-A gel samples.

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P. S. Clegg. 2005-01-02. X-ray studies of the phases and phase transitions of liquid crystals. https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0501011

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