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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Calorimetric study of the Paranematic-to-Nematic transition of polydomain side-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers
G Cordoyiannis1, B Rozic, H Finkelmann
1Condensed Matter Physics Department, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia. george.cordoyiannis@ijs.si
Abstract:
The phase transition behaviour of various nematic side-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers with different mesogen composition has been explored by means of high-resolution ac calorimetry. Polydomain samples of the same crosslinking density and different type of mesogens have been investigated. The results show a strong dependence of the phase transition features upon the composition of the mesogen. The distance from the critical point, reflected in the sharpness of the heat capacity anomalies, increases when adding a shorter-length mesogen. The results provide new insight for the impact of mesogens on the thermodynamic behaviour and, thus, on the thermomechanical response of nematic liquid-crystalline elastomers.
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