Marta Lavrič, Nikola Novak and George Cordoyiannis in collaboration with N. Sebastián and A. Mertelj from Department of Complex Matter, as well as C.J. Gibb and R.J. Mandle from University of Leeds (United Kingdom), have published an article in Liquid Crystals regarding the ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal RM734. By means of high-resolution calorimetry and polarizing optical microscopy, they studied the N-N_S-N_F phase sequence of RM734 and obtained temperature ranges ΔT_NS = 1.07 ± 0.12 K (calorimetry) ΔT_NS = 1.2 ± 0.3 K (microscopy) for the intermediate splay-nematic phase.  Critical fits of the N_S-N_F transition yielded a tricritical effective exponent α of the specific heat capacity, in agreement with other recent studies. Moreover, ratios of critical amplitudes A_NF/A_NS from 0.22 to 0.34 have been obtained, marking an unusual inverted Landau behavior.
 
https://doi.org/10.1080/02678292.2025.2481076