A possible new phase of antagonistic nematogens in a disorienting field
Abstract
A simple model is proposed for nematogenic molecules that favor perpendicular orientations as well as parallel ones. (Charged rods, for example, show this antagonistic tendency.) When a small disorienting field is applied along z, a low density phase N- of nematic order parameter Sz<0 coexists with a dense biaxial nematic Nb. (At zero field, N- becomes isotropic and Nb uniaxial.) But at stronger fields, a new phase N+4, invariant under π/2 rotations around the field axis, appears in between N- and Nb. Prospects for finding the N+4 phase experimentally are briefly discussed.
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