Huber, PatrickPatrickHuberBusch, MarkMarkBuschCalus, SylwiaSylwiaCalusKityk, Andriy V.Andriy V.Kityk2020-07-212020-07-212013-04-05Physical review E 87 (4): 042502 (2013)http://hdl.handle.net/11420/6880Optical birefringence and light absorption measurements reveal four regimes for the thermotropic behavior of a nematogen liquid (7CB) upon sequential filling of parallel-aligned capillaries of 12 nm diameter in a monolithic, mesoporous silica membrane. No molecular reorientation is observed for the first adsorbed monolayer. In the film-condensed state (up to 1 nm thickness) a weak, continuous paranematic-to-nematic (P-N) transition is found, which is shifted by 10 K below the discontinuous bulk transition at TIN=305K. The capillary-condensed state exhibits a more pronounced, albeit still continuous P-N reordering, located 4 K below TIN. This shift vanishes abruptly on complete filling of the capillaries, which we tentatively trace to a 10 MPa tensile pressure release associated with the disappearance of concave menisci in the confined liquid.en2470-005320134The American Physical SocietyPhysics - Soft Condensed MatterPhysics - Mesoscopic Systems and Quantum Hall EffectPhysics - Materials SciencePhysics - Chemical PhysicsPhysikJournal Article10.1103/PhysRevE.87.0425021304.1793v1Journal Article