Dynamics of director fluctuations near the nematic–smectic-A–smectic-Cmulticritical point

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Abstract
Quasielastic-light scattering above the nematic–smectic-C transition near the nematic–smectic-A–smectic-C multicritical point shows that the behavior of the splay-mode correlation time is consistent with that of the viscosities. The anomalous bend-mode scattering is found to exhibit two correlation times close to the transition. The relative amplitude of the fast fluctuatiosn has a temperature dependence similar to that of the longitudinal smectic correlation length, suggesting that the additional light scattering is due to tilt fluctuations that manifest themselves in the nonhydrodynamic regime.