Stability of a biaxial phase in a binary mixture of nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

The extended Maier-Saupe theory of binary nematics developed by Palffy-Muhoray et al. is extended to a wider range of interactions. This theory predicted that the biaxial phase is thermodynamically unstable in the absence of an external field, if the interspecies interaction strength satisfies the geometric mean rule. We show that deviations from this assumption can lead to a stable biaxial phase. Our result holds for both the isotropic and anisotropic part of the pseudopotential. The implications for the phase behavior are discussed.