Orientational Anisotropy in the Polydomain Lamellar Phase of a Lyotropic Liquid Crystal

Abstract

Diffusion-diffusion correlation measurements by NMR are used to investigate the degree of orientational order in the lamellar phase of Aerosol OT (bis(2-ethylhexyl) sodium sulfosuccinate) and water at a range of surfactant concentrations (25, 33, and 50 wt %). We show that true isotropy of the domains is found at the lowest concentration but that at higher concentrations deviations from isotropy can be found, as evidenced by asymmetry on the 2D correlation distributions. We further discuss the significance of asymmetry in diffusion-diffusion exchange experiments, 2D distributions that should always be symmetric in steady state.