A theory of concentration dependent switching transition in mixed liquid crystals of opposite diamagnetic anisotropies

Abstract

A macroscopic theory of switching transition in a liquid crystal mixture of two thermotropic nematic systems of opposite diamagnetic anisotropies is presented. This is based on Landau theory and shows that temperature being fixed, a transition occurs at a critical relative concentration of the two liquid crystals under consideration. The theoretical dependence of the relevant order parameters is in good agreement with recently observed experimental results on such mixtures.