DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2002-00398-1


Europhys. Lett., 58 (5) , pp. 646-652 (2002)

Nematic-isotropic transition in porous media -A Monte Carlo study

K. Venu¹, V. S. S. Sastry¹ and K. P. N. Murthy<sup>2

1</sup>  School of Physics, University of Hyderabad Hyderabad 500046 Andhra Pradesh, India
²  Materials Science Division, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research Kalpakkam 603 102, Tamilnadu, India

(Received 17 December 2001; accepted in final form 14 March 2002)

Abstract
We propose a lattice model to simulate the influence of the porous medium on the nematic-isotropic phase transition of liquid crystals confined to its pores. The effects of the pore surface and the pore interconnectivity are modelled through a disorder parameter. Monte Carlo calculations based on the model lead to results that compare well with experiments on the suppression of the transition temperature and on the decrease of enthalpy with decreasing pore size.

PACS
05.10.Ln - Monte Carlo methods.
61.30.Pq - Microconfined liquid crystals: droplets, cylinders, randomly confined liquid crystals, polymer dispersed liquid crystals, and porous systems.
64.70.Md - Transitions in liquid crystals.


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