The Effect of Aerosil Network on Smectic A-Reentrant Nematic Liquid Crystal

We report on a high resolution x-ray scattering study of aerosil dispersion effects on nematic-smectic A and smectic A-reentrant nematic phase transitions in 6OCB (hexyloxycyanobiphenyl) and 8OCB (octyloxycyanobiphenyl) liquid crystal mixtures. Dispersed aerosil particles introduce quenched randomness to the liquid crystal phases, which destroys the long range smectic order [1]. The experiment was conducted on mixtures with different 6OCB:8OCB concentrations and aerosil densities. The parabolic smectic A phase boundary is found to be slightly distorted in the presence of the aerosil network, with shifted transition and median (T$_{M})$ temperatures. Above T$_{M}$, the order parameter, susceptibility and parallel correlation lengths for the thermal and random parts of the structure factor show behaviors similar to those observed in non-reentrant nematic-smectic A second order phase transitions [2]. At T$_{M}$, where the order parameter has its maximum value, the scattering peaks are only defined by the random part of the structure factor. The smectic order parameter decreases with a further decrease in temperature, while the susceptibility and thermal correlation length increasingly show nematic-like behavior. Finally, at the lowest temperature, the mixtures are found in the reentrant nematic phase. [1] P.S. Clegg et. al. PRE 67,021703 (2003) [2] S. Larochelle et. al. in preparation