Dielectric investigations of the N-SmB transition in a porous glass

Abstract

Dielectric measurements in the frequency range 0.01 Hz to 10 MHz on a liquid crystal material with SmB/N dimorphism confined to randomly oriented and interconnected mesoporous (pore diameter 2-10 nm) and macroporous glasses (pore diameter 86 nm) were carried out. In the macroporous glasses the liquid crystal behaves similarly to the bulk phase, but the phase transition temperature SmB-N is suppressed. In the mesoporous glass the transition SmB-N is completely suppressed.