Experimental Evidence on the Influence of Extended Defects on a Structural Phase Transition: Polymer Chains in a Monomer Matrix

The influence of the polymerization on the static aspects of the structural phase transition in a monomer-polymer pTS-diacetylene system is studied by neutron scattering. The disorder arises probably from the frustration of the incommensurate modulation present in the pure monomer; the influence of the polymer chains acting as extended defects appears the determining factor in the observed phenomena.