Tricritical Behavior in a Liquid-Crystal System

Abstract

The isotropic-cholesteric and cholesteric-smectic-$A$ phase transitions in cholesteryl oleyl carbonate have been studied for pressures up to 7 kbar. The latter transition possesses a tricritical point at 2.66 kbar and 60.3\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C, where the behavior changes from first to second order.