A Discotic Disguised as a Smectic: A Hybrid Columnar Bragg Glass

Abstract

We show that discotics, lying deep in the columnar phase, can exhibit an x-ray scattering pattern which mimics that of a somewhat unusual smectic liquid crystal. This exotic, new glassy phase of columnar liquid crystals, which we call a ``hybrid columnar Bragg glass'', can be achieved by confining a columnar liquid crystal in an anisotropic random environment of e.g., strained aerogel. Long-ranged orientational order in this phase makes {\em single domain} x-ray scattering possible, from which a wealth of information could be extracted. We give detailed quantitative predictions for the scattering pattern in addition to exponents characterizing anomalous elasticity of the system.

4 RevTeX pgs, 2 eps figures. To appear in PRL

References in corpus (2)

• Vortex-glass phases in type-II superconductors
• Two new topologically ordered glass phases of smectics confined in anisotropic random media

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