Quasi-long-range order in nematics confined in random porous media

TL;DR

This paper investigates how random porous media affect nematic liquid crystals, revealing the destruction of long-range order, the emergence of glass phases, and the conditions under which quasi-long-range order can exist.

Contribution

It predicts the existence of two distinct glass phases in nematics within porous media, including one with quasi-long-range order, and analyzes the effects of uniaxial strain.

Findings

Random porous matrices destroy long-range nematic order.

A quasi-long-range ordered glass phase exists with infinite correlation length.

Uniaxial strain can induce anisotropic quasi-long-range order or stabilize long-range order.

Abstract

We study the effect of random porous matrices on the ordering in nematic liquid crystals. The randomness destroys orientational lang-range order and drives the liquid crystal into a glass state. We predict two glass phases one of which possesses quasi-long-range order. In this state the correlation length is infinite and the correlation function of the order parameter obeys a power dependence on the distance. The small-angle light-scattering amplitude diverges but slower than in the bulk nematic. In the uniaxially strained porous matrices two new phases emerge. One type of strain induces an anisotropic quasi-long-range-ordered state while the other stabilizes nematic long-range order.