Binary separation in very thin nematic films: thickness and phase coexistence
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-07 v1
Abstract
The behavior as a function of temperature of very thin films (10 to 200 nm) of pentylcyanobiphenyl (5CB) on silicon substrates is reported. In the vicinity of the nematic/isotropic transition we observe a coexistence of two regions of different thicknesses: thick regions are in the nematic state while thin ones are in the isotropic state. Moreover, the transition temperature is shifted downward following a 1/h^2 law (h is the film thickness). Microscope observations and small angle X-ray scattering allowed us to draw a phase diagram which is explained in terms of a binary first order phase transition where thickness plays the role of an order parameter.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0106120,
title = {Binary separation in very thin nematic films: thickness and phase coexistence},
author = {D. van Effenterre and R. Ober and M. P. Valignat and A. M. Cazabat},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0106120},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PRL on the 26th of April