What is the order of the nematic–smectic-A (NA) transition? The answer to this question has flip-flopped over the years as ever more sophisticated theories and ever more careful experiments have addressed the issue. The Landau theory predicts that the transition can be either first or second order, depending on material parameters. de Gennes and McMillan [Solid State Commun. 10, 753 (1972); Phys. Rev. A 14, 1238 (1971)] showed that nematic fluctuations would drive the transition to first order as the temperature of the NA transition approached that of the nematic-isotropic transition. Halperin, Lubensky, and Ma [Phys. Rev. Lett. 32, 292 (1974)] (HLM) then argued that the effect of nematic fluctuations is more subtle and concluded that the transition is always at least weakly first order. Monte Carlo simulations indicate, however, that for a large enough nematic range, the transition becomes second order. We investigate the order of the NA transition experimentally by measuring the capillary length (ratio of the surface tension to the latent heat) near an apparent tricritical point in a binary liquid-crystal mixture. Our measurements confirm the existence of the extra free-energy term predicted by the HLM theory and yield, as a by-product, surface-tension measurements of the NA interface. Although we cannot currently detect the tricritical point suggested by numerical work, we have not approached any fundamental sensitivity limits either.

• Received 28 October 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.51.2223