Volume phase transitions of biaxial nematic elastomers

Volume Phase Transitions of Heliconical Cholesteric Gels under an External Field along the Helix Axis

We present a mean field theory to describe cholesteric elastomers and gels under an external field, such as an electric or a magnetic field, along the helix axis of a cholesteric phase. We study the deformations and volume phase transitions of cholesteric gels as a function of the external field and temperature. Our theory predicts the phase transitions between isotropic (I), nematic (N), and heliconical cholesteric (ChH) phases and the deformations of the elastomers at these phase transition temperatures. We also find volume phase transitions at the I-ChH and the N-ChH phase transitions.

Volume phase transitions of cholesteric liquid crystalline gels

We present a mean field theory to describe anisotropic deformations of a cholesteric elastomer without solvent molecules and a cholesteric liquid crystalline gel immersed in isotropic solvents at a thermal equilibrium state. Based on the neoclassical rubber theory of nematic elastomers, we derive an elastic energy and a twist distortion energy, which are important to determine the shape of a cholesteric elastomer (or gel). We demonstrate that when the elastic energy dominates in the free energy, the cholesteric elastomer causes a spontaneous compression in the pitch axis and elongates along the director on the plane perpendicular to the pitch axis. Our theory can qualitatively describe the experimental results of a cholesteric elastomer. We also predict the first-order volume phase transitions and anisotropic deformations of a gel at the cholesteric-isotropic phase transition temperature. Depending on a chirality of a gel, we find a prolate or oblate shape of cholesteric gels.

Novel biaxial nematic phases of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers

We present a mean field theory to describe biaxial nematic phases of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers, in which rigid side-chains (mesogens) and rigid-backbone chains favor mutually perpendicular orientations. Taking into account both excluded volume and attractive interactions between rigid rods, novel biaxial nematic phases are theoretically predicted. We calculate uniaxial and biaxial orientational order parameters as a function of temperature and the length of backbone chains. We find a first-order biaxial-biaxial phase transition and a first (or second)-order uniaxial-biaxial one, depending on the length of mesogens and backbone chains.