Short−range order fluctuations in the isotropic phase of a liquid crystal MBBA

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Abstract
We have measured the polarized (I∥) and the depolarized (I⊥) scattered light intensities by fluctuations of the orientational order parameter as a function of two scattering angles over a range of temperatures close to and above the isotropic−nematic phase transition of para−methoxybenzylidine para−n−butylaniline (MBBA). The coherence length χ was found to diverge as ε−0.50±0.01, in essential agreement with the last results of Stinson and Litster and the theoretical predictions of de Gennes, where ε = (T − Tc*)/Tc* and Tc* is a pseudocritical temperature slightly below Tp. We have also measured the temperature dependence of the extinction coefficient of MBBA using the 632.8 nm wavelength of He−Ne laser light and observed that (limKμ0) 1/I∥ or ⊥ after attenuation correction diverges as εγ with γ = 0.85±0.05 which differs from γ = 1 as reported by previous studies. K represents the magnitude of the momentum transfer vector.