Preface; Table of Contents; PART ONE; 1. Introduction; 2. Nematic Phase; 3. Smectic-A and Smectic-C Phases; 3.1. Homogeneous Smectic-A and Smectic-C Phases; 3.2. Modulated Smectic-A and Smectic-C Phases; 3.3. Surface Effects; 4. Phases with In-Plane Order; 4.1. Hexatic Phases in Two Dimensions; 4.2. Hexatic Phases in Three Dimensions; 4.3. Crystalline Phases with Molecular Rotation; 4.4. Crystalline Phases with Herringbone Packing; 5. Discotic Phases; 6. Other Phases; 7. References; PART TWO SELECTED REPRINTS; 1. Nematic to Smectic-A; 1.1 An analogy between superconductors and smectics A
1.2 Measurement of smectic-A-phase order parameter fluctuations near a second-order smectic-A-nematic-phase transition1.3 Critical and tricritical behavior at the nematic to smectic-A transition; 1.4 Integrated x-ray scattering intensity measurement of the order parameter at the nematic-to-smectic-A phase transition; 2. Landau-Peierls Instability; 2.1 Remarques sur la diffusion des rayons X dans les smectiques A; 2.2 Observation of algebraic decay of positional order in a smectic liquid crystal; 2.3 Steric interactions in a model multimembrane system: a synchrotron x-ray study
3. Nematic Smectic-A Smectic C Multi-Critical Point3.1 Landau-Ginzberg mean-field theory for the nematic to smectic-C and nematic to smectic-A phase transitions; 3.2 X-ray study of fluctuations near the nematic-smectic-A-smectic-C multicritical point; 4. Multiple Smectic-A Phases; 4.1 Number of SA phases; 4.2 The Smectic State; 4.3 Theory of the SA-SA phase transition in liquid crystals; 4.4 Smectic-A phase with two collinear incommensurate density modulations; 4.5 X-ray scattering study of the smectic-A1 to smectic-A2 transition
4.6 X-ray studies of transitions between nematic smectic-A1 -A2 and -Ad phases5. In Plane Order-Hexatic Phases-Theory; 5.1 Theory of two dimensional melting; 5.2 Bond orientational order model for smectic B liquid crystals; 5.3 Solid and fluid phases in smectic layers with tilted molecules; 6. In Plane Order-Experiment; 6.1 Etude de l'ordre local lie a la rotation des molecules dans la phase smectique B; 6.2 Interlayer correlations in smectic B phases; 6.3 Long-range order in two and three-dimensional smectic-B liquid-crystal films
6.4 High resolution x-ray study of the smectic A-smectic B phase transition and the smectic B phase in butyloxybenzylidene octylaniline6.5 X-ray observation of a stacked hexatic liquid-crystal B phase; 6.6 Synchrotron x-ray study of novel crystalline-B phases in heptyloxybenzylidene-heptylanaline; 6.7 Dislocation model for restacking phase transitions in crystalline-B liquid crystals; 6.8 X-ray scattering study of restacking transitions in the crystalline-B phases of heptyloxybenzylidene heptylanaline
Summary
Current understanding of different phases as well as the phase transitions between them has only been achieved following recent theoretical advances on the effects of dimensionality in statistical physics. P S Pershan explains the connection between these two separate areas and gives some examples of problems where the understanding is still not complete. The most important example is the second order phase transition between the nematic and smectic-A phase. Others include the relation between the several hexatic phases that have been observed and the first order restacking transitions between
Notes
Includes selected reprints from physics journals by various authors
To appear as a chapter in International tables for crystallography
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 86-110)
