{"record":{"author":{"account_ref":null,"orcid":null},"builds_on":[],"content_schema":"pubphys.content.revision/1","content_sha256":"7e9b9d06869abe3e9400a547e26f08b19cfcc7ca4ca42b5a1f32c08657f13cc0","created":"2026-10-03T07:17:57Z","files":[],"origin":{"assisted_by":[],"kind":"seed"},"parents":["5475cf5dc5b1a72283d26dc95dc6e00d7ea4e00096a7c6492e409a1816eeb011"],"salt":"7930d6419183ff98e958e5b85d90afa45b63df34b51b1c1ae8e2cbc5961560ce","schema":"pubphys.record/2","site":"pubphys.com","target":null,"type":"revision"},"content":{"answer_type":"yes-no","assisted_by":[],"external_id":"bio.lc-defects.thermotropic-biaxial-nematic","kind":"well-posed","literature_status":"contested","n":"1","parents":[],"plain":"Theory predicts a liquid crystal in which molecules align along three perpendicular directions instead of one, called a biaxial nematic. It has been seen in mixtures with solvent, but claims of it in pure single-component liquid crystals remain disputed.","posed_since":"1970","precise":"Freiser (1970) predicted a biaxial nematic phase $N_b$ with three orthogonal directors in single-component thermotropic liquid crystals. Reports for bent-core and tetrapodal mesogens (2004 onward) are disputed as surface-induced biaxiality or cybotactic clusters. An answer is an unambiguous bulk measurement of a uniaxial-to-biaxial nematic transition in a thermotropic material, or a demonstration that the reported cases are uniaxial.","problem_ref":null,"references":"","settled_by":"Conoscopy, deuterium NMR and X-ray scattering on bulk monodomain samples free of surface effects, all showing biaxial order below a transition temperature.","status_note":"","title":"Does a thermotropic biaxial nematic phase exist","topic_ref":"29d09ff696c4d5fbc16d256673cc371d0985ecc50fd7d3a13d3921e10e53dfd6"},"attested":{"attestation":{"batch":null,"client_id":null,"id_token_sha256":null,"kind":"platform"},"record_hash":"6974d8ab92af17fc0c68c2c55aa84128642104f3576f81a19a5cedfbda9bedb3","schema":"pubphys.attested/1"},"envelope":{"attested_hash":"3f887e0ce6fad59a081b59725943d9b5cdd732551d6f5893cffb11e0bc86e8e5","platform_signature":{"key_id":"c6afc19b31429869751f06879c75cd64ea92654423d15b44be775bf1310a60da","sig":"ajAWM8wSOqhW2ZIDQQ7MI0LOIfwx392VMEkEHewW4rRVM2QpCypfAQjjlDGYwKIaJAXaHEl2FS6OHltNtx0DAQ"},"schema":"pubphys.envelope/1"},"record_hash":"6974d8ab92af17fc0c68c2c55aa84128642104f3576f81a19a5cedfbda9bedb3","leaf_index":795}