Abstract
THE Maier–Saupe theory of nematic liquid crystals is founded on a molecular field treatment of long-range contributions to the intermolecular potential and ignores the important shortrange forces. Nonetheless this theory is particularly successful in predicting the orientational properties of real nematics. Here we propose a model which accounts both for the success of the Maier–Saupe theory and the failure of theories based exclusively on short-range forces.
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LUCKHURST, G., ZANNONI, C. Why is the Maier–Saupe theory of nematic liquid crystals so successful?. Nature 267, 412–414 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/267412b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/267412b0
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