Universality in the fast orientational relaxation near isotropic-nematic transition

Ravichandran, S and Perera, A and Moreau, M and Bagchi, B (1998) Universality in the fast orientational relaxation near isotropic-nematic transition. In: Journal of Chemical Physics, 109 (17). pp. 7349-7353.

PDF Universality_in_the_fast_orientational.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (119kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Detailed molecular dynamics simulations of Lennard-Jones ellipsoids have been carried out to investigate the emergence of criticality in the single-particle orientational relaxation near the isotropic-nematic (IN) phase transition. The simulations show a sudden appearance of a power-law behavior in the decay of the second-rank orientational relaxation as the IN transition is approached. The simulated value of the power-law exponent is 0.56, which is larger than the mean-field value (0.5) but less than the observed value (0.63) and may be due to the finite size of the simulated system. The decay of the first-rank orientational time correlation function, on the other hand, is nearly exponential but its decay becomes very slow near the isotropic-nematic transition, The zero-frequency rotational friction, calculated from the simulated angular Velocity correlation function, shows a marked increase near the IN transition.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Journal of Chemical Physics
Publisher:	American Institute Physics
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to American Institute Physics.
Keywords:	molecular orientation, relaxation, nematic liquid crystals, liquid crystal phase transformations, molecular dynamics method, critical phenomena, friction.
Department/Centre:	Division of Chemical Sciences > Solid State & Structural Chemistry Unit
Date Deposited:	12 Dec 2009 10:28
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 05:28
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/19431

Actions (login required)

View Item