Nematic and smectic liquid crystals of hard spherocylinders

We present the phase diagram of a system of hard spherocylinders, including the isotropic liquid and the nematic and smectic-A liquid crystals, calculated with a nonlocal-density-functional model for the free energy. We get first- and second-order nematic--smectic-A transitions, with a tricritical point at L/D=50, and a triple coexistence point (isotropic-liquid--nematic--smectic-A) for L/D=3.