New divergent dynamics in the isotropic to nematic phase transition of liquid crystals measured with 2D IR vibrational echo spectroscopy

The isotropic phase of nematogenic liquid crystals has nanometer length scale domains with pseudonematic ordering. As the isotropic to nematic phase transition temperature (T-NI) is approached from above, the orientational correlation length, xi, of the pseudonematic domains grows as (T - T*)(-1/2), where T* is 0.5-1 K below T-NI. The orientational relaxation, which is a collective property of the pseudonematic domains, was measured with optical heterodyne detected-optical Kerr effect (OHD-OKE). The orientational relaxation obeys Landau-de Gennes theory, as has been shown previously. To examine the environmental evolution experienced by molecules in the pseudonematic domains, two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) vibrational echo experiments on the CN stretching mode of the non-perturbative vibrational probes 4-pentyl-4'-selenocyanobiphenyl (5SeCB) and 4-pentyl-4'-thiocyanobiphenyl (5SCB) in the nematogen 4-cyano-4'-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) were performed. The 2D IR experiments measure spectral diffusion, which is caused by structural fluctuations that couple to the CN vibrational frequency. Temperature dependent studies were performed just above T-NI, where the correlation length of pseudonematic domains is large and changing rapidly with temperature. These studies were compared to 2D IR experiments on 4-pentylbiphenyl (5B), a non-mesogenic liquid that is very similar in structure to 5CB. The time constants of spectral diffusion in 5CB and 5B are practically identical at temperatures >= 5 K above T-NI. As the temperature is lowered, spectral diffusion in 5B slows gradually. However, the time constants for spectral diffusion in 5CB slow dramatically and diverge as T* is approached. This divergence has temperature dependence proportional to (T - T*)(-1/2), precisely the same as seen for the correlation length of pseudonematic domains, but different from the observed orientational relaxation times, which are given by the Landau-de Gennes theory. The data and previous results show that spectral diffusion in 5CB has no contributions from orientational relaxation, and the structural dynamics responsible for the spectral diffusion are likely a result of density fluctuations. The results suggest that the correlation length of the density fluctuations is diverging with the same temperature dependence as the pseudonematic domain correlation length, xi. The isotropic-nematic phase transition in liquid crystals is described in the context of the slowing of orientational relaxation associated with divergent growth of the orientational correlation length. The results presented here show that there is another divergent dynamical process, likely associated with density fluctuations. (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.