Instruct: Identify the main and secondary category of Arxiv papers based on the titles and abstracts
Query: Thermodynamics, transition dynamics, and texturing in polymer-dispersed
  liquid crystals with mesogens exhibiting a direct isotropic/smectic-A
  transition   Experimental and modeling/simulation studies of phase equilibrium and growth
morphologies of novel polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) mixtures of PS
(polystyrene) and liquid crystals that exhibit a direct isotropic/smectic-A
(lamellar) mesophase transition were performed for PS/10CB (decyl-
cyanobiphenyl) and PS/12CB (dodecyl-cyanobiphenyl). Partial phase diagrams were
determined using polarized optical microscopy (POM) and differential scanning
calorimetry (DSC) for different compositions of both materials, determining
both phase separation (liquid/liquid demixing) and phase ordering
(isotropic/smectic-A transition) temperatures. The Flory-Huggins theory of
isotropic mixing and Maier-Saupe-McMillan theory for smectic-A liquid
crystalline ordering were used to computationally determine phase diagrams for
both systems, showing good agreement with the experimental results. In addition
to thermodynamic observations, growth morphology relations were found depending
on phase transition sequence, quench rate, and material composition. Three
stages of liquid crystal-rich domain growth morphology were observed: spherical
macroscale domain growth ("stage I"), highly anisotropic domain growth ("stage
II"), and sub-micron spheroid domain growth ("stage III"). Nano-scale structure
of spheroidal and spherocylindrical morphologies were then determined via
two-dimensional simulation of a high-order Landau-de Gennes model. Morphologies
observed during stage II growth are typical of di- rect isotropic/smectic-A
phase transitions, such as highly anisotropic "batonnets" and filaments. These
morphologies, which are found to be persistent in direct isotropic/smectic-A
PDLCs, could provide new functionality and applications for these functional
materials.

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The categories of this paper are: nucl-th
20
The categories of this paper are: acc-phys
21
The categories of this paper are: adap-org
30
The categories of this paper are: q-alg
22
The categories of this paper are: chao-dyn
13
The categories of this paper are: quant-ph
15
The categories of this paper are: nucl-ex
35
The categories of this paper are: mtrl-th
9
The categories of this paper are: nlin
8
The categories of this paper are: hep-ex
0
The categories of this paper are: hep-ph
19
The categories of this paper are: eess
31
The categories of this paper are: ao-sci
37
The categories of this paper are: supr-con
11
The categories of this paper are: hep-lat
10
The categories of this paper are: q-bio