The study of phase transition in some irradiated cholesteric liquid crystalline mixtures

We present the study of binary and multicomponent cholesteric mixtures undertaken with the aim of forming a system with the temperature of the phase transition close to the room temperature, which could be suitable for the detection of ionizing radiation. The phase diagrams were established on the basis of data from the optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The mixtures were exposed to the continual spectrum of X-Ray radiation in the period of 30/60 min. The mixtures react by changing the color of the mesophase, and a shift of the mesophase transition towards lower temperatures. The duration of the effects exceeds six months.