Abstract
The phase diagram of freely suspended thin films of heptyloxybenzylidene-heptylaniline shows dramatic changes for thicknesses below 22 layers. The most surprising feature of the phase diagram is the inclusion of two phases lacking long-range crystalline order (smectic- and hexatic- phases) between two crystalline phases (crystalline smectic and smectic ). Neither the smectic nor the hexatic occurs in bulk samples. Between sixteen and ten layers the width, in temperature, of the hexatic- phase increases.
- Received 7 October 1983
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.52.356
©1984 American Physical Society