Effect of electric field on the nematic-isotropic phase transition of compounds with a strong longitudinal dipole moment

Abstract

We present calculations on the effect of an external electric field on the nematic-iso-tropic transition of compounds with strong longitudinal dipole moments. In such compounds neighbouring molecules have antiparallel correlations. We use the Bethe cluster model and the constant coupling approximation in our calculations. Assuming reasonable values of the dipole moment and polarizabilities of the molecules, it is predicted that the nematic-(field induced) paranematic transition becomes continuous for an internal field E ≈ 3250 esu, when the transition point is ~ 6°K above the field-free value.