Pressure-induced phase transitions in liquid crystals: A molecular field approach

Abstract

A rigorous microscopic treatment of a nematic fluid system based on a pairwise interaction potential is immensely complex. For studying such systems molecular field theories are often the standard method of 2 P 2 P 2 (cos ϑ ) to study choice. In this paper we have chosen a simple effective potential U = u v 4 4 − u v 2 2 − Au v 2 an isothermal-isobaric ensemble describing a liquid crystalline system. Using this we have studied in particular the pressure dependence of liquid crystalline phase transitions.