Thermotropic crystal
A liquid crystal is thermotropic if the is determined or changed by temperature.
If temperature is too high, the rise in energy and therefore in motion of the components will induce a phase transition: the LC will become an isotropic liquid.
If, on the contrary, temperature is too low to support a thermotropic phase, the LC will change to glass phase.
There is therefore a range of temperatures at which we observe thermotropic LCs; and most of these have several "subphases", which we may observe by modifying the temperature.
