Anisotropic conformation of a side group liquid crystalline polymer in an isotropic small molecule LC solvent

While it is well known that SGLCPs adopt an anisotropic conformation when in a nematic solvent, we were intrigued to observe that anisotropy of the coil conformation can persist above T$_{NI }$-- despite the isotropic state of the solvent and the flexible nature of the backbone. Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) was performed on dilute (1 wt{\%}) solutions of SGLCPs dissolved in deuterated 5CB. The isotropic-nematic transition of the d-5CB was not shifted by this low concentration of polymer. In the absence of a magnetic field, the SANS patterns are isotropic. A magnetic field that is sufficiently weak that it does not perturb the order parameter at T $<$ T$_{NI}$, nor the value of T$_{NI}$, serves to break symmetry. The anisotropic SANS pattern observed at T$_{NI}$ + 2\r{ }C indicates to us that the polymer exerts a local nematic field upon the solvent causing it to take on a nonzero order parameter within the pervaded volume of the coil. The temperature dependence as well as the role of mesogenic side group geometry and molecular weight will also be presented.