Unusual thickness-dependent heat-capacity anomalies in free-standing hexatic liquid-crystal films.
High-resolution heat-capacity and optical-reflectivity measurements have been conducted near the smectic-A to hexatic-B transition in thin free-standing films of the liquid-crystal compound 64COOBC. We find an unexpected dependence on film thickness of the integrated magnitude of the heat-capacity anomalies as the films undergo layer-by-layer transitions. We measure the penetration depths of the ordering from the surface and next-to-surface layers which are pertinent to the highly correlated thermal behavior.
Chao
C Y
CY
Department of Physics and Astronomy, National Central University, Chung-Li 32054, Taiwan, Republic of China. cychao@phy.ncu.edu.tw
Lo
C R
CR
Wu
P J
PJ
Pan
T C
TC
Veum
M
M
Huang
C C
CC
Surendranath
V
V
Ho
J T
JT