A Molecular Statistical Theory of Smectic A Liquid Crystals

抄録

A molecular statistical theory of smectic A liquid crystals is presented. Here the hard-core intermolecular repulsions are taken into account in addition to the attractions within the second-virial approximation. Our theory shows the significance of a symmetry-breaking component of one-body pseudo-potential, which represents the steric effects arising from the intermolecular repulsions, for the thermal stability of smectic A phase. The effects of the molecular packing along the layer normal are also discussed by varying the ratio of the layer spacing to the effective molecular length.