Ordered States of a Nematic Liquid

Abstract

The interaction employed in the Maier-Saupe theory of the nematic state is generalized in a manner consistent with the asymmetry of the molecules that exhibit such a phase. In the molecular field approximation such an interaction then yields a first-order transition from the isotropic to a uniaxial state followed, at lower temperatures, by a second-order transition to a biaxial state.