Entropically driven reentrant SmC-SmA-SmC phase transition in composite polymer--liquid crystal systems
arXiv:cond-mat/9611075 · doi:10.1209/epl/i1996-00274-6
Abstract
I consider the effects of polymers on the smectic phase of a host liquid crystal matrix. Focusing on the regime in which the polymers are predominately confined between the smectic layers, I find that the presence of the polymers can lead to a reentrant phase diagram with the smectic-C sandwiching the smectic-A phase from both the high and low temperature sides. Simple entropy-energy arguments predict the shape of the reentrant phase boundary.
4 RevTeX pgs, 2 eps figures included, to appear in Europhys. Lett