Two Experimental Tests of the Halperin-Lubensky-Ma Effect at the Nematic-Smectic-A Phase Transition

Abstract

We have conducted two quantitative tests of predictions based on the Halperin-Lubensky-Ma (HLM) theory of fluctuation-induced first-order phase transitions. First, we explore the effect of an external magnetic field on the nematic-smectic-A (NA) transition in a liquid crystal. Second, we examine the dependence of the first-order discontinuity as a function of mixture concentration in pure 8CB and three 8CB-10CB mixtures. We find the first quantitative evidence for deviations from the HLM theory.

4 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (1)

• External-field-induced tricritical point in a fluctuation-driven nematic-smectic-A transition

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