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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 92 » Issue 14
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 145506 (2004) [4 pages]

Biaxial Nematic Phase in Bent-Core Thermotropic Mesogens

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Bharat R. Acharya*, Andrew Primak†, and Satyendra Kumar‡
Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA

Received 10 October 2003; published 9 April 2004

See accompanying Physics Focus

A biaxial nematic phase had been predicted with D2h symmetry, wherein the mesogen’s long and short transverse axes are simultaneously aligned along the two orthogonal, primary and secondary directors, n and m, respectively. The unique low-angle x-ray diffraction patterns in the nematic phases exhibited by three rigid bent-core mesogens clearly reveal their biaxiality. The results of x-ray diffraction can be readily reproduced by ab initio calculations that explicitly include the bent-core shape in the form factor and assume short-range positional correlations.

© 2004 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.145506
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.145506
PACS:
61.30.–v, 61.30.Eb, 61.30.Gd

*Present address: Platypus Technologies, 505 South Rosa Road, Madison, WI 53719, USA.

†Present address: Pacific Northwest National Lab, P.O. Box 999, MS K8-98, Richland, WA 99352, USA.

‡Email address: satyen@xray.kent.edu.

 
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