Smectic-Ahexatic-B transition of various compounds in the homologous series of n-alkyl-4-n-alkoxybiphenyl-4-carboxylate

Extensive high-resolution heat-capacity measurements have been carried out near the smectic-Ahexatic-B transition of various compounds in the homologous series of n-alkyl-4-n-alkoxybiphenyl-4-carboxylate. In contrast with the nematicsmectic-A and smectic-Asmectic-C (or chiral-smectic-C) transitions, the critical exponent characterizing the smectic-Ahexatic-B heat-capacity anomaly is found to be large and does not vary monotonically with the size of the disordered-phase (i.e., smectic-A) temperature range.