Smectic-Calpha*-smectic-C* phase transition and critical point in binary mixtures

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2006 Sep;74(3 Pt 1):030702. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.74.030702. Epub 2006 Sep 26.

Abstract

We have investigated the smectic-Calpha*-smectic-C* (SmCalpha*-SmC*) transition in a series of binary mixtures with resonant x-ray diffraction, differential optical reflectivity, and heat capacity measurements. Results show that the phases are separated by a first-order transition that ends at a critical point. We report the observation of such a critical point. We have proposed the appropriate order parameter and obtained values of two critical exponents associated with this transition. The values of the critical exponents suggest that long-range interactions are present in the SmCalpha*-SmC* critical region.