Observation of Pretransitional Divergence of Shear Viscosity near a Smectic-A—Smectic-B Phase Transition

Authors

S. Bhattacharya
S. V. Letcher, University of Rhode IslandFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2-12-1979

Abstract

Strong pretransitional divergence of shear viscosity was observed for the first time near a smectic-A—smectic-B phase transition by capillary shear flow with the layer normal perpendicular to both the flow velocity and velocity gradient. The results are inconsistent with a single power-law type of critical exponent and are suggestive of an essential singularity. Possible implications of the results for recently proposed models of the smectic-B phase and mechanisms for smectic-A—smectic-B phase transitions are discussed.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Bhattacharya, S., & Letcher, S. V. (1979). Observation of Pretransitional Divergence of Shear Viscosity near a Smectic-A—Smectic-B Phase Transition. Physical Review Letters, 42(7), 458-461. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.42.458

Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.42.458

Publisher Statement

©1979 The American Physical Society