title: Novel biaxial nematic phases of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers.
abstract: We present a mean field theory to describe biaxial nematic phases of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers, in which rigid side-chains (mesogens) and rigid-backbone chains favor mutually perpendicular orientations. Taking into account both excluded volume and attractive interactions between rigid rods, novel biaxial nematic phases are theoretically predicted. We calculate uniaxial and biaxial orientational order parameters as a function of temperature and the length of backbone chains. We find a first-order biaxial-biaxial phase transition and a first (or second)-order uniaxial-biaxial one, depending on the length of mesogens and backbone chains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioscience and Bioinformatics, Faculty of Computer Science and Systems Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kawazu 680-4, Iizuka, Fukuoka 820-8502, Japan. matuyama@bio.kyutech.ac.jp
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsuyama
mesh_terms: D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D044367:Phase Transition; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers