Photopyroelectric Determination of the Order of Liquid Crystal Phase Transitions

The photopyroelectric technique has been used to measure simultaneously the specific heat, the thermal conductivity, and the thermal diffusivity of 9CB liquid crystal in the temperature range 35 to 60°C, where the sample undergoes a weakly first-order phase transition and a second-order one. Measurements of the anisotropy of the thermal conductivity have also been performed, and the data have been used to establish the order of the above-mentioned phase transitions. Pretransitional effects in the isotropic phase in the thermal diffusivity have been found, and they have been associated with similar effects reported for the specific heat.