Chahine, GilbertGilbertChahineKityk, Andriy V.Andriy V.KitykKnorr, KlausKlausKnorrLefort, RonanRonanLefortGuendouz, MohammedMohammedGuendouzMorineau, DenisDenisMorineauHuber, PatrickPatrickHuber2022-07-012022-07-012010-05-03Physical Review E 81 (3): 031703 (2010-05-03)http://hdl.handle.net/11420/12990We report combined optical birefringence and neutron scattering measurements on the liquid crystal 12CB nanoconfined in mesoporous silicon layers. This liquid crystal exhibits strong nematic-smectic coupling responsible for a discontinuous isotropic-to-smectic phase transition in the bulk state. Confined in porous silicon, 12CB is subjected to strong anisotropic quenched disorder: a short-ranged smectic state evolves out of a paranematic phase. This transformation appears continuous, losing its bulk first order character. This contrasts with previously reported observations on liquid crystals under isotropic quenched disorder. In the low temperature phase, both orientational and translational order parameters obey the same power-law.en1550-2376Physical review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics20103American Physical SocietyMesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall EffectSoft Condensed MatterPhysikCriticality of an isotropic-to-smectic transition induced by anisotropic quenched disorderJournal Article10.1103/PhysRevE.81.0317031005.0240v1Journal Article