Abstract
A biaxial nematic phase had been predicted with symmetry, wherein the mesogen’s long and short transverse axes are simultaneously aligned along the two orthogonal, primary and secondary directors, and , respectively. The unique low-angle x-ray diffraction patterns in the nematic phases exhibited by three rigid bent-core mesogens clearly reveal their biaxiality. The results of x-ray diffraction can be readily reproduced by ab initio calculations that explicitly include the bent-core shape in the form factor and assume short-range positional correlations.
- Received 10 October 2003
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.145506
©2004 American Physical Society