A Discotic Disguised as a Smectic: A Hybrid Columnar Bragg Glass
  We show that discotics, lying deep in the columnar phase, can exhibit an x-ray scattering pattern which mimics that of a somewhat unusual smectic liquid crystal. This exotic, new glassy phase of columnar liquid crystals, which we call a ``hybrid columnar Bragg glass'', can be achieved by confining a columnar liquid crystal in an anisotropic random environment of e.g., strained aerogel. Long-ranged orientational order in this phase makes {\em single domain} x-ray scattering possible, from which a wealth of information could be extracted. We give detailed quantitative predictions for the scattering pattern in addition to exponents characterizing anomalous elasticity of the system. 
Karl Saunders (Univ. of Oregon), Leo Radzihovsky (Univ. of Colorado),   John Toner (Univ. of Oregon)