title: Biaxial nematic phase in bent-core thermotropic mesogens.
abstract: A biaxial nematic phase had been predicted with D(2h) symmetry, wherein the mesogen's long and short transverse axes are simultaneously aligned along the two orthogonal, primary and secondary directors, n and m, respectively. The unique low-angle x-ray diffraction patterns in the nematic phases exhibited by three rigid bent-core mesogens clearly reveal their biaxiality. The results of x-ray diffraction can be readily reproduced by ab initio calculations that explicitly include the bent-core shape in the form factor and assume short-range positional correlations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
authors.forename: Bharat R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Acharya
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Primak
authors.forename: Satyendra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar