EXPONENTIAL DECAY OF CORRELATIONS IN A MODEL FOR STRONGLY DISORDERED 2D NEMATIC ELASTOMERS

Lattice Monte Carlo simulations were performed to study the equilibriu m ordering in a two-dimensional nematic system with quenched random di sorder. When the disordering field, which competes against the alignin g effect of the Frank elasticity, is sufficiently strong, the long-ran ge correlation of the director orientation is found to decay as a simp le exponential, e(-r/xi). The correlation length xi itself also decays exponentially with increasing strength of the disordering field. This result represents a new type of behavior, distinct from the Gaussian and power-law decays predicted by some theories.