Acoustical and optical investigations of the size effect in nematic-isotropic phase transition in liquid crystal microemulsions

Abstract

The absorption of ultrasound (at a frequency of 2.7 MHz) and the depolarized light transmission and scattering (at a wavelength of 630 nm) in liquid crystal (LC) emulsions have been studied during the nematic-isotropic (N-I) phase transition in LC droplets with radii ranging from 150 to 2300 nm. The obtained acoustical and optical data are used to determine the influence of the droplet size on characteristics of the N-I phase transition. It is shown that the acoustical and optical characteristics of LC emulsions have good prospects to be used for the investigation of phase transitions in submicron samples.