Abstract
We report the results of our studies on the optical and thermal properties of the mixture of cholesteryl chloride (ChCl) and sodium dodecyl sulphate/water (SDS/water), which exhibits very interesting liquid crystalline mesophases, such as cholesteric (N∗) phase and induced reentrant smectic-A phase, sequentially when the specimen is cooled from its isotropic liquid phase. Different liquid crystalline phases observed in the mixture were studied using DSC, X-ray, and optical microscopic techniques. The pitch of the cholesteric phase and the temperature variation of optical anisotropy have also been discussed.