Smectic A-C-A Liquid Crystal Reentrance: A Photon Transmission Study

Abstract

Ultraviolet/visible photon transmission measurements were applied to study liquid crystal phase transitions in the binary BOPDOB-BOPOOB mixture. A sequence exhibiting a new reentrant, namely isotropic-nematic-smectic A-C-A as temperature is lowered, is identified. For the smectic A-C transition, the critical exponent g is seen to cross over from the mean-field 0.501 - 0.008 to the helium-like 0.336 - 0.012 as the transition is approached. The reentrant C-A transition is first-order, signalling a tricritical point in the phase diagram.