Title:	Splay and bend elastic constants in the nematic phase of some disulfide bridged dimeric compounds
Authors:	Kundu, Brindaban Pal, Santanu Kumar Kumar, Sandeep Pratibha, R. Madhusudana, N.V.
Issue Date:	10-Dec-2010
Publisher:	American Physical Society
Citation:	Physical Review E, 2010, Vol.82, p061703
Abstract:	We report measurements of the temperature dependences of the splay (K11) and bend (K33) elastic constants of several homologues and a binary mixutre of disulfide bridged symmetric dimers made of alkoxy cyanobiphenyl monomeric units. All of them have an even number m of carbon and sulfur atoms in the linking chain and expected to have linear conformations. Both K11 and K33 alternate depending on the parity of x which is the number of carbon atoms in the alkyl chain of a monomer. We will refer to this as ‘odd-even' effect. This effect, occurs near the nematic-isotropic transition temperature. TNI , but monotonically decrease with m at lower temperatures. We argue that these results imply large rotational fluctuations of the two halves of the dimers about the S-S bond giving rise to average bent conformations near TNI . At lower temperatures those conformations which can adapt better to the given curvature deformation in the medium are favored.
Description:	Open Access
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/2289/4028
ISSN:	1550-2376 (Online) 1539-3755
Alternative Location:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.82.061703 http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010PhRvE..82f1703K
Copyright:	2010 American Physical Society
Appears in Collections:	Research Papers (SCM)

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