PMRD investigations of molecular dynamics and phase transitions in the liquid crystal 6CHBT

Proton Magnetic Relaxation Dispersion (PMRD) measurements were carried out over a wide Larmor frequency range near the isotropic-nematic transition temperature (T _NI) and in the mid nematic phase of a low viscous liquid crystal 4-(trans-4′-hexylcyclohexyl)-isothiocyanatobenzene (6CHBT), with a view to examining the pre-transitional effects just above isotropic-nematic transition (T > T _NI) and the role of director fluctuations (DF) on the nematic phase stability of this system. The results near the transition indicate critical slowing down of the short-range nematic order modes just above T _NI with a mean field critical exponent characterizing the coherence length (ξ). The observed temperature independence of the correlation time associated with the reorientations (τ_R) and the extension of DF mode spectrum, in the mid-nematic phase, to relatively higher resonance frequencies seem to suggest fairly low hindering barriers for the tumbling of the molecules about their short axes.