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Updated: Aug 1, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Magnetic-field-induced changes of the isotropic-nematic phase transition in side-chain polymer liquid crystals
M I Boamfa1, K Viertler, A Wewerka
1Research Institute for Materials, High Field Magnet Laboratory, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands. boamfa@sci.kun.nl
Abstract:
The isotropic-nematic (I-N) phase transition of side-chain polymer liquid crystals is intrinsically a weak first-order transition with a biphasic region spread over a wide temperature interval. In the presence of high magnetic fields we find the I-N transition to become a strong first order. The I-N biphasic region shrinks its temperature window as larger magnetic fields are applied, until it completely disappears and the transition completes at a fixed temperature. We interpret this behavior as a consequence of the nonlinear coupling of the magnetic field to the system free energy, via the suppression of the order fluctuations in the nematic mesophase at the I-N transition crossing.
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