Girijavallabhan, C P; Radhakrishnan, P; V P N Nampoori; Nibu, A George; George, A K(Journal of Physics D : Applied Physics, October 13, 2000)
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Abstract:
We report on a laser induced photoacoustic study of the nematic-to-isotropic
transition in certain commercial nematic liquid crystal mixtures, namely BL001, BL002,
BL032 and BL035. A simple analysis of the experimental data using the
Rosencwaig–Gersho theory shows that the heat capacities of all these compounds exhibit a
sharp peak as the temperature of the sample is varied across the transition region. Also,
substantial differences in the photoacoustic signal amplitudes in nematic and isotropic phases
have been noticed for all the mixtures. The increased light scattering property of the nematic
phase may be the reason for the enhanced photoacoustic signal amplitude in this phase.