title: Comparison between experiment and theory in the temperature variation of film tension above the bulk isotropic transition in free-standing liquid-crystal films.
abstract: Using differential scanning calorimetry, the transition enthalpies and temperatures for the bulk smectic-isotropic phase transition have been measured for a series of liquid-crystal compounds. For five compounds, those values were used as parameters in a microscopic mean-field model to predict the temperature dependence of the difference in free-energy density between a sample of material in a free-standing smectic film and that in the bulk. The model predicts a weak temperature dependence below the bulk clearing point and a pronounced monotonic increase with temperature above the transition temperature. The compounds used in this study were chosen specifically because they were also the subject of a previous independent experimental study [M. Veum, Phys. Rev. E 74, 011703 (2006)] that demonstrated a sudden monotonic increase in the free-standing film tension with temperature, which is qualitatively consistent with the predictions of the above-mentioned mean-field model. This study presents a direct and quantitative comparison between the predictions of the mean-field model and the results from previous tension experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, Wisconsin 55481, USA. mveum@uwsp.edu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Veum
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Duelge
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Droske
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: L V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Mirantsev