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Introduction to Liquid Crystals: Chemistry and Physics, Second Edition relies on only introductory level chemistry and physics as the foundation for understanding liquid crystal science. Liquid crystals combine the material properties of solids with the flow properties of fluids. As such they have provided the foundation for a revolution in low-power, flat-panel display technology (LCDs). In this book, the essential elements of liquid crystal science are introduced and explained from the perspectives of both the chemist and physicist. This new edition relies on only introductory level physics and chemistry as the foundation for understanding liquid crystal science and is, therefore, ideal for students and recent graduates. Features Introduces and explains the essential elements of liquid crystal science, including discussion of how liquid crystals have been utilized for innovative and important applications. New to this edition are over 300 figures, 90 end-of chapter exercises, and an increased scope that includes recent developments. Combines the knowledge of two eminent scientists in the field; they have fully updated and expanded the text to cover undergraduate/graduate course work as well as current research in what is now a billion-dollar industry. Immerses the reader in the vocabulary, structures, data, and kinetic models, rapidly building up an understanding of the theories and models in current use. Begins with a historical account of the discovery of liquid crystals and continues with a description of how different phases are generated and how different molecular architectures affect liquid crystal properties.

Sonja Dieterich zeigt, dass die Natur der Phasenumwandlung von der smektischen A- in die smektische C‑Phase ein wichtiges Kriterium für die Anwendbarkeit des Langevin-Modells ist, welches das elektrooptische Verhalten von Flüssigkristallen vom de Vries-Typ beschreibt. Dagegen spielt die genaue chemische Struktur des Mesogens, die seine nanosegregierenden Eigenschaften beeinflusst, eine untergeordnete Rolle. Weiterhin konnte die Autorin smektische Schichten kalamitischer nanosegregierender Mesogene mittels Freeze-Fracture Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie direkt abbilden.

Dendrimers are hyperbranched molecules with well-defined nanometer-scale dimensions. Important technological applications of these systems, both in biomedicine and materials science, have been recently proposed. Liquid crystal dendrimers are fascinating materials that combine the characteristics of dendrimers with the anisotropic physical behaviour and molecular self-organization typical of liquid crystals. This unique association of physical and chemical properties, together with the possibility of multi-selective functionalization put forward by dendrimers, opens new perspectives for applications. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful experimental technique applied in materials science and an important tool to the study of molecular organization and dynamics. This book presents an introduction to dendrimers properties with special insight into liquid crystal dendrimers and a detailed description of the NMR theory and experimental techniques used in the investigation of these materials. It also discusses recent NMR research results on liquid crystal dendrimers, with emphasis on molecular order and dynamics studies. This book introduces the properties of dendrimers, with special insight into liquid crystal dendrimers, and a detailed description of NMR theory and experimental techniques used in the investigation of these materials. It also discusses results of recent NMR research on liquid crystal dendrimers, with an emphasis on molecular order and dynamics studies. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students of physics, chemistry, and materials science and researchers in the fields of dendrimers, liquid crystals, and NMR will find the book extremely useful.

This book brings together the many concepts and discoveries in liquid crystal colloids contributed over the last twenty years and scattered across numerous articles and book chapters. It provides both a historical overview of the development of the field and a clear perspective on the future applications in photonics. The book covers all phenomena observed in liquid crystal colloids with an emphasis on experimental tools and applications of topology in condensed matter, as well as practical micro-photonics applications. It includes a number of spectacular manifestations of new topological phenomena not found or difficult to observe in other systems. Starting from the early works on nematic colloids, it explains the basics of topological defects in ordered media, charge and winding, and the elastic forces between colloidal particles in nematics. Following a detailed description of experimental methods, such as optical tweezing and particle tracking, the book eases the reader into the theoretical part, which deals with elastic deformation of nematic liquid crystals due to inclusions and surface alignment. This is discussed in the context of basic mean field Landau-de Gennes Q-tensor theory, with a brief explanation of the free-energy minimization numerical methods. There then follows an excursion into the topology of complex nematic colloidal structures, colloidal entanglement, knotting and linking. Nematic droplets, shells, handlebodies and chiral topological structures are addressed in separate chapters. The book concludes with an extensive chapter on the photonic properties of nematic dispersions, presenting the concept of integrated soft matter photonics and discussing the concepts of nematic and chiral nematic microlasers, surface-sensitive photonic devices and smectic microfibers. The text is complemented by a large bibliography, explanatory sketches and beautiful micrographs.

In this thesis Johanna Bruckner reports the discovery of the lyotropic counterpart of the thermotropic SmC• phase, which has become famous as the only spontaneously polarized, ferroelectric fluid in nature. By means of polarizing optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and electro-optic experiments she firmly establishes aspects of the structure of the novel lyotropic liquid crystalline phase and elucidates its fascinating properties, among them a pronounced polar electro-optic effect, analogous to the ferroelectric switching of its thermotropic counterpart. The helical ground state of the mesophase raises the fundamental question of how chiral interactions are'communicated'across layers of more or less disordered and achiral solvent molecules which are located between adjacent bi-layers of the chiral amphiphile molecules. This thesis bridges an important gap between thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystals and pioneers a new field of liquid crystal research.

This book focuses on the exciting topic of nanoscience with liquid crystals: from self-organized nanostructures to applications. The elegant self-organized liquid crystalline nanostructures, the synergetic characteristics of liquid crystals and nanoparticles, liquid crystalline nanomaterials, synthesis of nanomaterials using liquid crystals as templates, nanoconfinement and nanoparticles of liquid crystals are covered and discussed, and the prospect of fabricating functional materials is highlighted. Contributions, collecting the scattered literature of the field from leading and active players, are compiled to make the book a reference book. Readers will find the book useful and of benefit both as summaries for works in this field and as tutorials and explanations of concepts for those just entering the field. Additionally, the book helps to stimulate future developments.

In 1959, about 1400 compounds forming liquid crystalline phases were known; by 1992, this number had increased to about 50 000. In portable devices like wristwatches, pocket caculators, measuring instruments, and laptop computers the liquid crystal display technology has gained total acceptance and is on the way to encompass the market of colour TV screens. This development makes a volume devoted to liquid crystals in the series Topics in Physical Chemistry desirable. Following the concept of this series, an easy introduction to liquid crystals is given, enabling the reader to understand the basic problems of liquid crystals research and application. Because of the widespread field of different research activities in liquid crystals and applications, various competent authors have been involved in writing chapters on: - Phase types, structures, and chemistry of liquid crystals; - Thermodynamical behavior and physical properties of thermotropic liquid crystals; - Liquid crystalline polymers; - Lyotropic liquid crystals; - Application of liquid crystals in spectroscopy; - Application of liquid crystals in display technology.

This book deals with three related areas having both fundamental and technological interest. In the first part, the objective is to provide a bird's­ eye view on structure in polymeric solids. This is then complemented by a chapter, directly technological in its emphasis, dealing with the influence of processing on polymeric materials. In spite of the technological interest, this leads to some of the current fundamental theory. Part II, concerned with liquid crystals, starts with a discussion of the physics of the various types of material, and concludes with a treatment of optical applications. Again, aspects of the theory are stressed though this part is basically phenomenological in character. In Part III, an account is given first of the use of chemical-bonding arguments in understanding the electronic structure of low-dimensional solids, followed by a comprehensive treatment of the influence of dimen­ sionality on phase transitions. A brief summary of dielectric screening in low-dimensional solids follows. Space-charge layers are then treated, including semiconductor inversion layers. Effects of limited dimensionality on superconductivity are also emphasized. Part IV concludes the volume with two specialized topics: electronic structure of biopolymers, and topological defects and disordered systems. The Editors wish to acknowledge that this book had its origins in the material presented at a course organized by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste.

In the last 20 years the study of nonlinear nonequilibrium phenomena in spa­ tially extended systems, with particular emphasis on pattern-forming phenomena, has been one of the very active areas in physics, exhibiting interesting ramifi­ cations into other sciences. During this time the study of the'classic'systems, like Rayleigh-Benard convection and Taylor vortex flow in simple fluids, has also been supplemented by the study of more complex systems. Here liquid crystals have played, and are still playing, a major role. One might say that liquid crystals provide just the right amount and right kind of complexity. They are full of non­ linearities and give rise to new symmetry classes, which are sometimes actually simpler to deal with qualitatively, but they still allow a quantitative description of experiments in many cases. In fact one of the attractions of the field is the close contact between experimentalists and theorists. Hydrodynamic instabilities in liquid crystals had already experienced a period of intense study in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but at that time neither the ex­ perimental and theoretical tools nor the concepts had been developed sufficiently far to address the questions that have since been found to be of particular interest. The renewed interest is also evidenced by the fact that a new series of workshops has evolved. The first one took place in 1989 in Bayreuth and united participants from almost all groups working in pattern formation in liquid crystals.

This book by Lev M. Blinov is ideal to guide researchers from their very first encounter with liquid crystals to the level where they can perform independent experiments on liquid crystals with a thorough understanding of their behaviour also in relation to the theoretical framework. Liquid crystals can be found everywhere around us. They are used in virtually every display device, whether it is for domestic appliances of for specialized technological instruments. Their finely tunable optical properties make them suitable also for thermo-sensing and laser technologies. There are many monographs written by prominent scholars on the subject of liquid crystals. The majority of them presents the subject in great depth, sometimes focusing on a particular research aspect, and in general they require a significant level of prior knowledge. In contrast, this books aims at an audience of advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics, chemistry and materials science. The book consists of three parts: the first part, on structure, starts from the fundamental principles underlying the structure of liquid crystals, their rich phase behaviour and the methods used to study them; the second part, on physical properties, emphasizes the influence of anisotropy on all aspects of liquid crystals behaviour; the third, focuses on electro-optics, the most important properties from the applications standpoint. This part covers only the main effects and illustrates the underlying principles in greater detail. Professor Lev M. Blinov has had a long carrier as an experimentalist. He made major contributions in the field of ferroelectric mesophases. In 1985 he received the USSR state prize for investigations of electro-optical effects in liquid crystals for spatial light modulators. In 1999 he was awarded the Frederiks medal of the Soviet Liquid Crystal Society and in 2000 he was honoured with the G. Gray silver medal of the British Liquid Crystal Society. He has held many visiting academic positions in universities and laboratories across Europe and in Japan.

This edited volume provides an extensive overview of how nuclear magnetic resonance can be an indispensable tool to investigate molecular ordering, phase structure, and dynamics in complex anisotropic phases formed by liquid crystalline materials. The chapters, written by prominent scientists in their field of expertise, provide a state-of-the-art scene of developments in liquid crystal research. The fantastic assortment of shape anisotropy in organic molecules leads to the discoveries of interesting new soft materials made at a rapid rate which not only inject impetus to address the fundamental physical and chemical phenomena, but also the potential applications in memory, sensor and display devices. The review volume also covers topics ranging from solute studies of molecules in nematics and biologically ordered fluids to theoretical approaches in treating elastic and viscous properties of liquid crystals. This volume is aimed at graduate students, novices and experts alike, and provides an excellent reference material for readers interested in the liquid crystal research. It is, indeed, a reference book for every science library to have.

Prigogine and Rice's highly acclaimed series, Advances in Chemical Physics, provides a forum for critical, authoritative reviews of current topics in every area of chemical physics. Edited by J.K. Vij, this volume focuses on recent advances in liquid crystals with significant, up-to-date chapters authored by internationally recognized researchers in the field.

The Advances in Chemical Physics series provides the chemical physics and physical chemistry fields with a forum for critical, authoritative evaluations of advances in every area of the discipline. Filled with cutting-edge research reported in a cohesive manner not found elsewhere in the literature, each volume of the Advances in Chemical Physics series serves as the perfect supplement to any advanced graduate class devoted to the study of chemical physics.

This book presents critical reviews of the present position and future trends in modern chemical research concerned with chemical structure and bonding. It contains short and concise reports, each written by the world's renowned experts. Still valid and useful after 5 or 10 years, more information as well as the electronic version of the whole content is available at: springerlink.com.

'Thermotropic Liquid Crystals: Recent Advances'covers developments in the field of thermotropic liquid crystals and their functional importance. In addition it presents advances related to different sub-areas pertinent to this interdisciplinary area of research. This text brings together research from synthetic scientists and spectroscopists and attempts to bridge the gaps between these two areas. Recent studies have reported a plethora of novel mesogenic molecules which triggered new interest in this area of research. Use of design concepts such as microphase segregation, non-covalent interactions, dipole-dipole interactions and shape anisotropy enabled the incorporation of any chemical structure into a liquid crystal. As a result, a range of exciting molecules such as columnar liquid crystals that lack side chains, liquid crystalline dendrimers, and unusually shaped amphiphilic molecules have been made. Characterization of these surprising molecules poses a tremendous challenge to existing physical techniques. This comprehensive text has chapters covering the applications of high-resolution methods, such as solid-state NMR, that have been used to understand the high-resolution structure, dynamics, orientation, and orientational order of these molecules in various phases. This book will prove to be an invaluable resource to students, researchers, and academics active in Chemistry, Material Science, and Nano-science programs. It will also be of interest to Scientists from industries that focus on this research.

Based on graduate lectures given by the authors, Smectic and Columnar Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by Experiments examines lamellar (smectic) and columnar liquid crystals, which, in addition to orientational order, possess 1D, 2D or 3D positional order. Topics include rheology and plasticity, ferroelectricity, analogies with superconductors, hexatic order and 2D-melting, equilibrium shapes, facetting, and the Mullins-Sekerka instability, as well as phase transitions in free films and membrane vibrations. Nematic and cholesteric liquid crystals are covered by the authors in a separate volume entitled Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by Experiments.

Alignment phenomena are characteristic of liquid crystalline materials, and understanding them is critically important in understanding the essential features and behavior of liquid crystals and the performance of Liquid Crystal Devices (LCDs). Furthermore, in LCD production lines, the alignment process is of practical importance. Alignment Technologies and Applications of Liquid Crystal Devices demonstrates both the fundamental and practical aspects of alignment phenomena in liquid crystals. The physical basis of alignment phenomena is first introduced in order to aid the understanding of the various physical phenomena observed in the interface between liquid crystalline materials and alignment layer surfaces. Methods for the characterization of surfaces, which induce the alignment phenomena, and of the alignment layer itself are introduced. These methods are useful for the research of liquid crystalline materials and devices in academic research as well as in industry. In the practical sections, the alignment methods used in the LCD production lines are introduced with various other trials for the alignment technologies. LCD performances are also discussed in relation to alignment phenomena. The authors have a wide range of experience in both academic research and in industry. This book will be of interest to researchers and engineers working in the LCD industry, and for physics and chemistry researchers studying liquid crystalline materials.

Liquid crystal science underlies the technology of about half the current display technology by value, an industry now worth some $10 billion per annum worldwide. The fundamental science straddles the disciplines of chemistry, physics, engineering, mathematics and computer science. Among liquid crystal scientists today there is much interest in the historical process that has brought the subject to its present level. The historical roots lie in the years following 1888, again in the interwar years, and finally in the late 60s and 70s.This book has collected important papers in the development of liquid crystal science into one reference volume. The collection is divided into sections, each of which is prefaced by a brief commentary, referring to the historic-scientific context of the time. Some of these papers are available for the first time in English. More modern papers carry a short commentary from the original author, offering recollections of the context in which the work was carried out and what its impact has been.Crystals that Flow is aimed at liquid crystal scientists- from whatever background- physics, mathematics, chemistry, engineering or computer science. Historians of science will also find this a useful reference.

This text relies on only introductory level physics and chemistry as the foundation for understanding liquid crystal science. Liquid crystals combine the material properties of solids with the flow properties of fluids. As such they have provided the foundation for a revolution in low- power, flat-panel display technology LCDs. In this book, the essential elements of liquid crystal science are introduced and explained from the perspectives of both the chemist and the physicist.; The text begins with an historical account of the discovery of liquid crystals and continues with a description of how different phases are generated and how different molecular architectures affect liquid crystalline properties. The rest of the book is concerned with understanding and explaining the properties of the various types of liquid crystals, and in the final part of the book, the technology of LCDs is discussed and illustrated.