Fractal growth of the liquid crystalline B2 phase of a bent-coremesogen

Abstract

Fractal growth patterns can be observed during the formation of the liquidcrystalline B2 phase of a bent-core molecule from the isotropic melt. The timedevelopment of the box dimension Db, the information dimension Di and the massdimension Dm was determined during the phase ordering process, as the cellgap, quench depth and quench rate was varied. The fractal dimensions obtainedfor various growth patterns were of the order of D≈1.82-1.89 in atwo-dimensional medium, values which are generally found for percolationclusters in condensed matter systems. The fractal dimension increases forincreasing cell gap, but is basically independent on quench depth and rate.