Experimental studies on the electrical conductivity of two re-entrant nematogens

Abstract

The principal electrical conductivities b.sigmapar and b.sigmabottom have been studied as functions of temperature in the nematic, smectic A and re-entrant nematic phases of a pure compound, 4-cyanophenyl-3'- methyl-r)4'-n-dodecylbenzoyloxy)benzoate, and a 35.8/64.2 weight mixture of 6 OCB and 8 OCB. In both cases, the ratio R(= b.sigmapar/b.sigmabottom) in the smectic phase exhibits a marked pretransitional increase on aproaching the re-entarant nematic phase.