Abstract
The - phase transition in columnar liquid crystals of the HAT series [e.g., HAT11 (triphenelene hexa-n-dodecanoate)] is discussed within the framework of Landau theory. The order parameters which describe the transition are abstracted from a tensor density function, and are associated with two irreducible representations of the symmetry group of the high-temperature phase. A mechanism for a first-order transition is then suggested in accordance with both theoretical considerations and the experimental result for the - transition. Two possible arrangements of the herringbone structure of the phase are obtained, each of which gives six orientational states in the low-temperature phase.
- Received 21 October 1985
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.33.2740
©1986 American Physical Society