Molecular model for de Vries type smectic A - smectic C phase transition in liquid crystals

TL;DR

This paper presents a molecular model explaining the weak layer contraction in the Smectic A - Smectic C phase transition in liquid crystals, aligning well with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized phenomenological model and a simple molecular interaction potential to accurately describe the phase transition.

Findings

The model matches experimental data closely.

A simple interaction potential suffices for the description.

The theory explains anomalously weak layer contraction.

Abstract

We develop a theory of Smectic A - Smectic C phase transition with anomalously weak smectic layer contraction. We construct a phenomenological description of this transition by generalizing the Chen-Lubensky model. Using a mean-field molecular model, we demonstrate that a relatively simple interaction potential suffices to describe the transition. The theoretical results are in excellent agreement with experimental data.