Time-of-flight small angle neutron scattering study of the nematic phase in PAA

Abstract

A small angle neutron scattering study on the mixture of non-deuterated and deuterated PAA (50%/50%) was performed in the temperature region containing the nematic phase. The measurements were performed with the time-of-flight small neutron scattering spectrometer. The existence of the anomalous increase of the scattered neutron intensity below the clearing point was confirmed. The possibility of attributing that anomaly to the phase transition between uniaxial and biaxial ordering is discussed.