Critical behavior of the optical birefringence at the nematic to twist bend nematic phase transition

Damian Pociecha (Corresponding Author), Catriona A. Crawford, Daniel A. Paterson, John M. D. Storey, Corrie T. Imrie, Nataša Vaupotič, Ewa Gorecka

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28 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

The critical behavior at the transition from a uniform nematic to a twist-bend modulated nematic phase is revealed and shown to be well explained by the mean field approximation. The study was performed on a group of materials that exhibit an unusually broad temperature range of the nematic phase above the twist-bend modulated nematic phase, so the critical range in which the order parameter fluctuations are strong and can be experimentally observed is wide. The formation of instantaneous helices is observed already several degrees above the transition temperature, strongly influencing the birefringence of the system. The analysis of a critical part of the birefringence changes provides a set of critical exponents that are consistent with the mean field approximation, indicating a large correlation length of helical fluctuations in the nematic phase.
Original languageEnglish
Article number052706
Pages (from-to)1-5
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear and Soft Matter Physics
Volume98
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Nov 2018

Bibliographical note

This research was supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under the grant no. 2016/22/A/ST5/00319. NV acknowledges the support of the Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS), through the research programme P1-0055.

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