title: A discotic disguised as a smectic: A hybrid columnar bragg glass
abstract: We show that discotics, lying deep in the columnar phase, can exhibit an x-ray scattering pattern which mimics that of a somewhat unusual smectic liquid crystal. This exotic, new glassy phase of columnar liquid crystals, which we call a "hybrid columnar Bragg glass," can be achieved by confining a columnar liquid crystal in an anisotropic random environment of, e.g., strained aerogel. Long-ranged orientational order in this phase makes single-domain x-ray scattering possible, from which a wealth of information could be extracted. We give detailed quantitative predictions for the scattering pattern in addition to exponents characterizing anomalous elasticity of the system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Materials Science Institute and Institute of Theoretical Science, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403, USA.
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saunders
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Radzihovsky
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Toner