Orientational order parameter measurements of discotic liquid crystal

Abstract

The IR dichroism technique is a convenient method which can be used to measure the molecular order parameter corresponding to the IR bands exclusively present in the disc –like molecules in discotic liquid crystal (DLC). To measure orientational order parameter, homeotropic alignment of discotic liquid crystal was attained by slow cooling of sample from isotropic phase on untreated flat CaF2 substrate. The homeotropic alignment thus achieved was found to be thermodynamically stable in the discotic mesophase. IR spectra were recorded at different temperatures for the DLC. The order parameter was calculated by comparing the spectra of discotic phase with that of the isotropic phase. Order parameter has been presented as function of temperature for different significant IR bands present in the DLC.