NMR study of the effects of electric dipole interactions on the ordering of chain solutes in the nematic phase

Abstract

The existence of residual electric dipole interactions in nematic liquid crystals is demonstrated by comparatively analyzing deuterium NMR spectra of α,ω-dibromoalkanes and n-alkanes disolved in nematic solvents. It is shown that these interactions generate an additional orientational bias that has sizable and readily measurable effects on the order parameter profiles of the dibromoalkane solute. The residual electric dipole interaction modifies both the local and global ordering of the electric dipole carrying chain solutes