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K. Severing, K. Saalwächter.
Phase Biaxiality in Nematic Liquid Crystals.
In: Thermotropic Liquid Crystals: Recent Advances.. Editor: A. Ramamoorthy.
Springer, Dordrecht 2007.
Abstract
The existence of a biaxial nematic phase was theoretically predicted as early as
1970. While this special nematic phase was already experimentally verified in
1980 in a lyotropic system, the hunt for a biaxial nematic phase in a
thermotropic liquid crystal was not as successful until much later. In this
chapter we introduce the experimental techniques and the diverse nematic liquid
crystalline systems to which these techniques have been applied so far to gain
information on potential phase biaxiality.
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