A specialized apparatus for the study of liquid crystals at high pressures

C. Carboni, H. F. Gleeson*, J. W. Goodby, A. J. Slaney

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A pressure system specially designed for the study of liquid crystal materials at high pressures up to 4kbar is presented. The pressure system is based on a hydrostatic screw injector and uses either oil or gas as the pressure transmitting medium. The type of measurements which can be performed with the instrument include polarized microscopy, optical spectroscopy, electrooptic and electrical measurements. The different measurements performed place specific constraints on the design of the apparatus and the pressure cells, and details are given. A preliminary study of the smectic A modification of the twist grain boundary phase (TGBA) at high pressures is presented. The pressure versus temperature phase diagram shows (i) a negative gradient of the TGBA/isotropic phase boundary line and (ii) that the TGBA phase does not exist at pressures above about 250 bar. Following Lubensky’s analogy between the TGBA phase and type II superconductors, the disappearance of the TGBA phase at high pressure may imply that the Landau-Ginsburg parameter K decreases with pressure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1991-2000
Number of pages10
JournalLiquid Crystals
Volume14
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1993
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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