CRITICAL BEHAVIOUR ABOVE A NEMATIC TO SMECTIC A PHASE TRANSITION
- 1 March 1975
- journal article
- Published by EDP Sciences in Le Journal de Physique Colloques
- Vol. 36 (C1) , C1-113
- https://doi.org/10.1051/jphyscol:1975120
Abstract
The fluctuations of the local order parameter above a nematic to smectic A phase transition give rise to singularities in the elastic constants, and in the viscosities of the nematic. We have used the dynamics of a Fredericks transition to measure the temperature dependence of the twist viscosity γ1 above a weakly first order nematic to smectic A phase transition. γ1 diverges as the transition temperature is reached, but too weakly to allow the determination of a critical exponent. We also observe a large pretransitional increase of the splay elastic constant K1Keywords
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