Abstract
X-ray diffraction has been measured at different stages of the transition from a glassy to a partially ordered C1 phase of p-methoxybenzyliden-p’-n-butylaniline. The measurements were performed on oriented samples for various orientations of the director of the liquid crystalline structure with respect to the scattering wave vector. The transition presents both a translational and an orientational ordering of the molecules. The variations of the macroscopic orientational order parameter 〈〉 with the range of the molecular correlation length are reported. The change of 〈〉 at the transition is associated with a short-range orientational order in the glassy state. The dependence of the local orientational order parameter 〈〉 upon the correlation length has also been determined and this is the first experimental demonstration of the interdependence of the orientational and positional order.
- Received 17 November 1993
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.49.5230
©1994 American Physical Society