Transition to ordered intercalated columns in columnar liquid crystals

A phenomenological description of the phase transition between the disordered columnar phase Dhd and the ordered phase Dho is presented in which the columns are ordered and displaced so as to relieve the intrinsic frustration on a triangular lattice. A number of additional phases are predicted, including the one observed experimentally for the hexa-hexylthiotriphenylene columnar liquid crystal.