Divergence of Cholesteric Pitch near a Smectic-<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>A</mml:mi></mml:math>Transition

Abstract

We have measured the detailed temperature dependence of the cholesteric pitch in cholesteryl nonanoate near the smectic-$A$ transition. The data show a power-law behavior with an exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}=0.675\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.025$, in agreement with theoretical prediction and with elastic-constant measurements in nematics.