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Entropically driven reentrant SmC-SmA-SmC phase transition in composite polymer--liquid crystal systems

Leo Radzihovsky
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Abstract

I consider the effects of polymers on the smectic phase of a host liquid crystal matrix. Focusing on the regime in which the polymers are predominately confined between the smectic layers, I find that the presence of the polymers can lead to a reentrant phase diagram with the smectic-C sandwiching the smectic-A phase from both the high and low temperature sides. Simple entropy-energy arguments predict the shape of the reentrant phase boundary.

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Leo Radzihovsky. 1996-11-11. Entropically driven reentrant SmC-SmA-SmC phase transition in composite polymer--liquid crystal systems. https://doi.org/10.1209/epl%2Fi1996-00274-6

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