title: Unusual temperature dependence of elastic constants of an ambient-temperature discotic nematic liquid crystal.
abstract: We report the first experimental studies on the temperature dependence of viscoelastic properties of a room temperature discotic nematic liquid crystal. The splay elastic constant is greater than the bend elastic constant and both show unusual temperature and order parameter dependence. The rotational viscosity is remarkably larger than conventional calamitic liquid crystals. We provide a simple physical explanation based on the columnar short-range order to account for the the unusual temperature dependence of the elastic constants.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad-500046, India. sdsp@uohyd.ernet.in.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Venkata Sai
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands and Soft Matter Materials Lab, Solid State Physics Department, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia and Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mirri
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P H J
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Kouwer
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad-500046, India. sdsp@uohyd.ernet.in.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sahoo
authors.affiliation: Soft Matter Materials Lab, Solid State Physics Department, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia and Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Musevic
authors.affiliation: School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad-500046, India. sdsp@uohyd.ernet.in.
authors.forename: Surajit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dhara