Influence of non-mesogenic impurities on a nematic to isotropic phase transition

Non-mesomorphic solutes depress the normal nematic-isotropic transition temperature in liquid crystals. When non-mesomorphic solutes are added to a nematic liquid crystal, the nematic-isotropic transition temperature is depressed and a two phase region is formed due to the presence of impurities of the solutes. The present paper explains the formation of this two phase region by the Landau-de Gennes phenomenological theory, which agrees fairly well with the experimental observations. We also note that this two phase region indicates the tricritical behaviour of the nematic-isotropic phase transition and the phase diagram near the tricritical point is also obtained.