Evidence for smectic order in a fluid of hard parallel spherocylinders

Abstract

We present Monte Carlo simulations on systems of parallel spherocylinders with length-to-width ratios L/D between 0.25 and 5. We have determined the solid-liquid coexistence points in these systems by computing the absolute free energy of the solid and fluid phases. In addition we find that for L/D>0.5 a thermodynamically stable smectic phase is formed at densities well below the thermodynamic melting point. The transition from nematic to smectic appears to be continuous. We find no evidence for long-range bond-orientational order in the smectic phase.