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Updated: May 31, 2025

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Instabilities, thermal fluctuations, defects and dislocations in the crystal-RI-RII rotator phase transitions of
Soumya Kanti Ganguly1, Prabir K Mukherjee2
1Ongil Private Limited, Chennai 600113, India.
Abstract:
The theoretical study of instabilities, thermal fluctuations, and topological defects in the crystal-rotator-I-rotator-II (X-RI-RII) phase transitions of n-alkanes has been conducted. First, we examine the nature of the RI-RII phase transition in nanoconfined alkanes. We propose that under confined conditions, the presence of quenched random orientational disorder makes the RI phase unstable. This disorder-mediated transition falls within the Imry-Ma universality class. Next, we discuss the role of thermal fluctuations in certain rotator phases, as well as the influence of dislocations on the X-RI phase transition. Our findings indicate that the herringbone order in the X-phase and the hexatic order in the RII-phase exhibit quasi-long-range characteristics. Furthermore, we find that in two dimensions, the unbinding of dislocations does not result in a disordered liquid state.
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