2003/05/15 by P. G. de Gennes, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Ko Okumura
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/epl/i2003-00480-8
7 pages, 3 figures (To appear in Europhys. Lett.)
arxiv created 2003/05/15 · openalex publication_date 2003/07/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Single-crystal nematic elastomers undergo a transition from a strongly ordered phase N to an "isotropic" phase I . We show that: a) samples produced under tension by the Finkelmann procedure are intrinsically anisotropic and should show a small (temperature-dependent) birefringence in the high-temperature I phase; b) for the I → N transition via cooling there is a spinodal limit but for the N → I transition via heating there is no soft mode at the standard spinodal temperature; c) the N → I transition is reminiscent of a martensitic transformation : nucleation of the I phase should occur in the form of platelets, making a well-defined angle with the director.