Paranematic-nematic phase transition in liquid crystalline elastomers: a 2H-NMR study

In this study, selectively deuterium-labelled monodomain liquid single crystalline elastomers have been investigated by means of 2H-NMR spectroscopy. The analysis of the spectral features as well as the study of the orientational properties in the paranematic and nematic phases confirmed the supercriticality of the paranematic-nematic transition as an intrinsic property of these systems. Moreover, the combined study of the spin-spin relaxation times (T2) and the 2H-NMR spectral linewidth measured in the paranematic phase indicates the presence of slow dynamic motions.