High-pressure dielectric analyzer

Figure 4. Setup for high-pressure dielectric measurements G, supply for pressurising gas V, valves M, pressure gauge GMK, gas compressor TM, heating and cooling jacket T, T, thermocouples B, Bridgman piston A, autoclave K, capacitor I, electrical connection to heating block Pt, platinum resistance thermometer DVM, digital voltmeter S, recorder HP, Hewlett-Packard impedance analyzer C, computer R, Rj, regulators TMG, temperature registration DW, dewar.

A Novocontrol Alpha-Analyzer (v=10 -10 Hz) was used for dielectric measurements, both at atmospheric and at high pressure. For atmospheric pressure measurements, a parallel plate capacitor separated by a quartz spacer (empty capacitance 90 pF) and filled by the sample was placed in the nitrogen flow Quattro cryostat (T= 100-3 60 K). For high pressure measurements, a sample-holder multi-layer capacitor (empty capacitance 30pF) was separated from the pressurizing fluid (silicon oil) by a Teflon membrane. The high pressure chamber (Cu-Be alloy), provided by UNIPRESS, was connected to a hydraulic pump able to reach 700 MPa, and controlled in the interval 195-360 K within 0.1 K by means of a thermally conditioned liquid flow. 

However, the number of liquid crystals that have been studied under pressure is very limited. In most cases neither the equation of state nor the pressure dependence of the order parameter is known. Only the mean-field theory of Maier and Saupe was extended to explain the dielectric properties of liquid crystalline phases. However, a recent approach by Photinos et al. analyzed the nematic reentrance and phase stability based on the variational cluster method. The lack of a full theoretical description as well as insufficient experimental data should stimulate further high-pressure investigations in this field. 

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