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Young researcher Maha Zid has with collaborators theoretically studied the generic mechanisms that could establish critical behavior in nematic liquid crystals (NLCs). The corresponding free energy density terms should exhibit linear coupling with the nematic order parameter and, via this coupling, enhance the nematic order. They consider both temperature- and pressure-driven, order–disorder phase transitions. They derive a scaled effective free energy expression that describes how qualitatively different mechanisms enforce critical behavior.  Main focus is devoted on the impact of nanoparticles (NPs) in homogeneous NP-NLC mixtures. They illustrate that in the case of pressure-driven phase changes, lower concentrations are needed to impose critical point conditions in comparison with pure temperature variations.

George Cordoyiannis from the Department of Condensed Matter Physics F5 and colleagues from KU Leuven (Belgium) have published an invited review article Review of high-resolution calorimetric studies of cyanoalkylbiphenyl and cyanoalkoxybiphenyl liquid crystals and related compounds in Liquid Crystals for the 50 years anniversary from the discovery of the important family of cyanobiphenyl compounds. This review gives an overview of different calorimetric methods and highlights important high-resolution calorimetry measurements on these compounds over the last 50 years.