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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Direct experimental assessment of the strength of orientational correlations in polar liquids
N Veglio1, F J Bermejo, L C Pardo
1CSIC-Department of Electricity and Electronics, University of the Basque Country, P.O. Box 664, 48080 Bilbao, Spain.
Abstract:
The strength of molecular orientational correlations in polar liquids is assessed by means of comparison of the diffuse scattering patterns of a liquid composed by molecules devoid of permanent electric dipole but having a weak quadrupole moment and those for a liquid composed by permanent molecular dipoles. The extent of orientational correlations within the liquid phases is in both cases assessed by comparison of the liquid radial distributions to those present in the rotator-phase (plastic) crystal phases of both compounds. For such disordered-crystal phases, information concerning orientational correlations is directly derived from the experimental scattering patterns by means of analysis of the diffuse scattering background present beneath the Bragg peaks. The results show that rather than long-ranged, orientational correlations in polar or polarizable liquids are confined within distances comprising the second coordination sphere.
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