THE RESPONSE OF SEMIFLEXIBLE LIQUID-CRYSTALS TO QUENCHED RANDOM DISORDER

We have studied the effect of quenched random impurities on the first-order nematic to isotropic transition of trimers using Monte Carlo simulation. We have shown that the introduction of quenched impurities to a liquid crystalline system will lower the transition temperature, round the specific heat peak, and change the order of the transition. This is in agreement with previous calculations that show that the introduction of quenched random impurities can decrease or eliminate the discontinuity of a first-order transition.