This book gives a comprehensive description of the physical properties of lyotropic liquid crystals. Structural features, phase transitions and phase diagrams are discussed in detail. The available experimental data on lyotropic mixtures is presented in the unifying context of the Landau theories. This phenomenological approach is used for establishing connections between structural properties and phase diagrams. The book is suitable for use as a pedagogical introduction to the subject.
Liquid crystals are partially ordered systems without a rigid, long-range structure. The study of these materials covers a wide area: chemical structure, physical properties and technical applications. Due to their dual nature -- anisotropic physical properties of solids and rheological behavior of liquids -- and easy response to externally applied electric, magnetic, optical and surface fields liquid crystals are of greatest potential for scientific and technological applications. The subject has come of age and has achieved the status of being a very exciting interdisciplinary field of scientific and industrial research. This book is an outgrowth of the enormous advances made during the last three decades in both our understanding of liquid crystals and our ability to use them in applications. It presents a systematic, self-contained and up-to-date overview of the structure and properties of liquid crystals. It will be of great value to graduates and research workers in condensed matter physics, chemical physics, biology, materials science, chemical and electrical engineering, and technology from a materials science and physics viewpoint of liquid crystals.
Current understanding of different phases as well as the phase transitions between them has only been achieved following recent theoretical advances on the effects of dimensionality in statistical physics. P S Pershan explains the connection between these two separate areas and gives some examples of problems where the understanding is still not complete. The most important example is the second order phase transition between the nematic and smectic-A phase. Others include the relation between the several hexatic phases that have been observed and the first order restacking transitions between phases that were all previously identified as smectic-B, but which should more properly be identified as crystalline-B. Some relatively recent experimental developments on the discotic phase, liquid crystal surfaces and lyotropic phases are also included. The book includes 41 major reprints of some of the recent seminal work on the structure of liquid crystals. They are introduced by a brief review of the symmetries and other properties of liquid crystalline phases. In addition, there is a discussion of the differences between true liquid crystalline phases and others that were described as liquid crystalline in the early literature, but which have since been shown to be true three-dimensional crystals. The progression from the isotropic fluid, through the nematic, smectic, and various crystalline phases can be understood in terms of a systematic decrease in symmetry, together with an accompanying variation in structure is explained. A guide to the selected reprints and a sort of ?Rosetta Stone? for these various phases is provided. The goal of this book is to explain the systematics of this progression to students and others that are new to this field, as well as to provide a useful handbook for people already working in the field.
This book presents a compilation of self-contained chapters covering a wide range of topics within the broad field of soft condensed matter. Each chapter starts with basic definitions to bring the reader up-to-date on the topic at hand, describing how to use fluid flows to generate soft materials of high value either for applications or for basic research. Coverage includes topics related to colloidal suspensions and soft materials and how they differ in behavior, along with a roadmap for researchers on how to use soft materials to study relevant physics questions related to geometrical frustration.
Life, Laptops and Liquid Crystals connects the science of one of the icons of the digital age, the laptop computer, with life itself via liquid crystals, the phase of matter essential to both. The book begins with a review of basic chemistry and physics, then goes on to discuss semiconductors, polymers, liquid crystals, and the molecules of life. Applications of these basic concepts to electronic devices, liquid crystal displays, art, and of course the laptop computer, complete the text. Physics, chemistry, materials science, electronics, and biology are all essential to understanding those topics. The necessary concepts in each field are developed with an eye to emphasizing molecules and molecular interactions. Each chapter concludes with review exercise, as well as references and research questions that encourage the reader to explore the topics in more depth.
This book fills a gap in knowledge between chemistry- and physics-trained researchers about the properties of macroscopic (bulk) material. Although many good textbooks are available on solid-state (or condensed matter) physics, they generally treat simple systems such as simple metals and crystals consisting of atoms. On the other hand, textbooks on solid-state chemistry often avoid descriptions of theoretical background even at the simplest level. This book gives coherent descriptions from intermolecular interaction up to properties of condensed matter ranging from isotropic liquids to molecular crystals. By omitting details of specific systems for which comprehensive monographs are available—on liquid crystals and molecular conductors, for instance—this book highlights the effects of molecular properties, i.e., the presence of the shape and its deformation on the structure and properties of molecular systems.
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.
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 the nematic liquid crystal phase, rod-shaped molecules move randomly but remain essentially parallel to one another. Biaxial nematics, which were first predicted in 1970 by Marvin Freiser, have their molecules differentially oriented along two axes. They have the potential to create displays with fast switching times and may have applications in thin-film displays and other liquid crystal technologies. This book is the first to be concerned solely with biaxial nematic liquid crystals, both lyotropic and thermotropic, formed by low molar mass as well as polymeric systems. It opens with a general introduction to the biaxial nematic phase and covers: • Order parameters and distribution functions • Molecular field theory • Theories for hard biaxial particles • Computer simulation of biaxial nematics • Alignment of the phase • Display applications • Characterisation and identification • Lyotropic, thermotropic and colloidal systems together with material design With a consistent, coherent and pedagogical approach, this book brings together theory, simulations and experimental studies; it includes contributions from some of the leading figures in the field. It is relevant to students and researchers as well as to industry professionals working in soft matter, liquid crystals, liquid crystal devices and their applications throughout materials science, chemistry, physics, mathematics and display engineering.
This important and timely book deals with the theoretical and experimental investigation of the phase transitions which occur in complex fluid systems, namely lyotropic systems, microemulsions, colloids, gels, polymers, biological membranes, Langmuir monolayers, and ferrofluids. It contains 20-odd review papers from the major contributors to this rapidly growing field of research, summarizing the main results obtained in the description and understanding of the phase transitions taking place between the isotopic, nematic, cholesteric, lamellar, hexagonal, and cubic mesophases of complex fluids.
