Thermal Fluctuations in the Isotropic Phase of Nematic Liquid Crystals
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2003
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Physics & Astronomy
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Thesis (B.A.)
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en_US
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Full copyright to this work is retained by the student author. It may only be used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. All other uses are restricted.
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Abstract
We have investigated the fluctuations of short-range order in several liquid crystal compounds by measuring the scattering of visible light. We have verified the linear temperature dependence of the leading term in the Landau-de Gennes free-energy expression in the isotropic phase. We have also obtained estimates for the bare correlation length, in the one-constant approximation, in the compounds isothiocyanato-4-(trans-4-propylcyclohexyl) benzene (ICPCHB) and p-pentyl-p'-cyanobiphenyl (5CB). For ICPCHB we find ~o = 2.5 ± 2.2 A, and for 5CB we find ~o = 3.3 ± 0.7 A. Using a different approach with 5CB, we find that without the one-constant approximation, 60 = 4.7 ± 0.6 A. We furthermore find our observations consistent with a direct variation between the polarizability of a liquid crystal molecule, and the bare correlation length of its nematic phase.