EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY OF THE ELECTRIC-FIELD-INDUCED SMECTIC A-FERROELECTRIC SMECTIC-C CRITICAL-POINT IN BINARY-MIXTURES - APPROACH TO TRICRITICAL BEHAVIOR

A system of binary mixtures of two liquid crystal compounds is prepared possessing a tricritical point in the smectic A-ferroelectric smectic C transition line in the temperature-composition plane. In several mixtures with different distinctness of the first-order nature of the transition the approximate coordinates of the electric-field-induced critical point, at which the first-order transition vanishes, are determined by measurements of the electric displacement. The critical field strength and the temperature difference between the transition at zero field and the critical point shrink to zero as the tricritical point is approached. This is the first study of the wing critical points of a tricritical point in liquid crystal phase transitions.