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Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Tricritical phenomena at the Fréedericksz transition in ferronematic liquid crystals
1Physics of Phase Transitions Department, Perm State University, 614990 Perm, Russia.
Abstract:
Within the continuum theory we study the magnetic segregation effects in ferronematics, i.e., suspensions of monodomain magnetic particles in nematic liquid crystals. Orientational and concentrational distributions in a ferronematic layer are obtained as functions of a magnetic field strength for different values of material parameters. Tricritical behavior of the Fréedericksz transition in ferronematics induced by magnetic field is revealed. It is found out that this transition can be either first- or second-order transition depending on the segregation degree. We derive the analytical expression for the tricritical segregation parameter, determining the phase-transition character change. The dependence of birefringence on the external magnetic field and the segregation parameter is studied.
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