TY - CONF A1 - Busch, M. T1 - Thermotropic Orientational Order of Discotics in Nanochannels: An Optical Polarimetry Study and Landau-de Gennes Analysis T2 - 19th German-American Frontiers of Science Symposium CY - Irvine, CA, USA DA - 2014-04-03 PY - 2014 AN - OPUS4-30624 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Busch, M. T1 - Thermotropic Orientational Order of Discotics in Nanochannels: An Optical Polarymetry Study and Landau-de Gennes Analysis T2 - DPG-Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Kondensierte Materie (SKM) CY - Dresden, Germany DA - 2014-03-30 PY - 2014 AN - OPUS4-30563 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kityk, A.V. A1 - Busch, M. A1 - Rau, D. A1 - Calus, S. A1 - Cerclier, C.V. A1 - Lefort, R. A1 - Morineau, D. A1 - Grelet, E. A1 - Krause, Christina A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Frick, B. A1 - Huber, P. T1 - Thermotropic orientational order of discotic liquid crystals in nanochannels: an optical polarimetry study and a Landau-de Gennes analysis N2 - Optical polarimetry measurements of the orientational order of a discotic liquid crystal based on a pyrene derivative confined in parallelly aligned nanochannels of monolithic, mesoporous alumina, silica, and silicon as a function of temperature, channel radius (3–22 nm) and surface chemistry reveal a competition of radial and axial columnar orders. The evolution of the orientational order parameter of the confined systems is continuous, in contrast to the discontinuous transition in the bulk. For channel radii larger than 10 nm we suggest several, alternative defect structures, which are compatible both with the optical experiments on the collective molecular orientation presented here and with a translational, radial columnar order reported in previous diffraction studies. For smaller channel radii our observations can semi-quantitatively be described by a Landau–de Gennes model with a nematic shell of radially ordered columns (affected by elastic splay deformations) that coexists with an orientationally disordered, isotropic core. For these structures, the cylindrical phase boundaries are predicted to move from the channel walls to the channel centres upon cooling, and vice-versa upon heating, in accord with the pronounced cooling/heating hystereses observed and the scaling behavior of the transition temperatures with the channel diameter. The absence of experimental hints of a paranematic state is consistent with a biquadratic coupling of the splay deformations to the order parameter. PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c4sm00211c SN - 1744-683X VL - 10 IS - 25 SP - 4522 EP - 4534 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-30866 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -