Optically isotropic liquid crystal

Common liquids are optically isotropic, and the solids that physicists seem to like most are cubic and therefore isotropic. As a consequence, treatments of optical properties, particularly from a microscopic point of view, usually favor isotropic matter. Among the host of naturally occurring sohds, however, most are not isotropic. This somewhat complicates both theory and experiment for example, measurements of optical constants must be made with oriented crystals and polarized light. But because of the prevalence of optically anisotropic solids, we are compelled to extend the classical models to embrace this added complexity. 

As this class of electrohydrodynamic phenomena is observed in the isotropic phase as well, the mechanism of its excitation is also called isotropic. Roughly speaking, a liquid crystal optically develops and makes visible isotropic instabilities, and the corresponding optical patterns reflect specific properties of the liquid crystal. 

He, G. S., T.-C. Lin, P. N. Prasad, C.-C. Cho, and L.-J. Yu. 2003. Optical power limiting and stabilization using a two-photon absorbing neat liquid crystal in isotropic phase. Appl. Phys. Lett. 82 4717-19. 

Lyotropic liquid crystals are those which occur on the addition of a solvent to a substance, or on increasing the substance concentration in the solvent. There are examples of cellulose derivatives that are both thennotropic and lyotropic. However, cellulose and most cellulose derivatives form lyotropic mesophases. They usually have a characteristic "critical concentration" or "A point" where the molecules first begin to orient into the anisotropic phase which coexists with the isotropic phase. The anisotropic or ordered phase increases relative to the isotropic phase as the solution concentration is increased in a concentration range termed the "biphasic region." At the "B point" concentration the solution is wholly anisotropic. These A and B points are usually determined optically. 

The detection of liquid crystal is based primarily on anisotropic optical properties. This means that a sample of this phase looks radiant when viewed against a light source placed between crossed polarizers. An isotropic solution is black under such conditions (Fig. 12). Optical microscopy may also detect the liquid crystal in an emulsion. The liquid crystal is conspicuous from its radiance in polarized light (Fig. 13). The structure of the liquid crystalline phase is also most easily identified by optical microscopy. Lamellar liquid crystals have a pattern of oil streaks and Maltese crosses (Fig. 14a), whereas ones with hexagonal arrays of cylinders give a different optical pattern (Fig. 14b). 

Figure 7. Close to the PIT value two phases with a lamellar structure exist. One of these, the surfactant phase (S), is an isotropic liquid, the other one, (N), is an optically anisotropic liquid crystal with a lamellar structure.

Yoshida et al. recently disclosed an alternative method that allowed them to produce stable suspensions of gold nanoparticles (1-2 nm in diameter) in nematic liquid crystals [315]. They used a simple sputter deposition process, which allowed them to prepare thin liquid crystal films of well-dispersed gold nanoparticles in both 5CB and E47 (available from Merck) with a nanoparticle size depending on the used nematic liquid crystal. Unfortunately, the authors did not provide any details on whether the nanoparticles were capped with a ligand or bare, non-coated particles, which makes it difficult to assess and compare the reported thermal as well as electro-optic data. However, very similar effects were found as a result of nanoparticle doping, including lower nematic-to-isotropic phase transition temperatures compared to the used pure nematics as well as 10% lower threshold voltages at nanoparticle concentrations below 1 wt% [315]. 

As discussed in section 7.1.6.4, semidilute solutions of rodlike polymers can be expected to follow the stress-optical rule as long as the concentration is sufficiently below the onset of the isotropic to nematic transition. Certainly, once such a system becomes nematic and anisotropic, the stress-optical rule cannot be expected to apply. This problem was studied in detail using an instrument capable of combined stress and birefringence measurements by Mead and Larson [109] on solutions of poly(y benzyl L-glutamate) in m-cresol. A pretransitional increase in the stress-optical coefficient was observed as the concentration approached the transition to a nematic state, in agreement of calculations based on the Doi model of polymer liquid crystals [63]. In addition to a dependence on concentration, the stress-optical coefficient was also seen to be dependent on shear rate, and on time for transient shear flows. 

Three of the experiments are completely new, and all make use of optical measurements. One involves a temperature study of the birefringence in a liquid crystal to determine the evolution of nematic order as one approaches the transition to an isotropic phase. The second uses dynamic laser light scattering from an aqueous dispersion of polystyrene spheres to determine the autocorrelation function that characterizes the size of these particles. The third is a study of the absorption and fluorescence spectra of CdSe nanocrystals (quantum dots) and involves modeling of these in terms of simple quantum mechanical concepts. 

An analogous enhancement in the optical rotatory power of the isotropic phase of a thermotropic liquid crystal has been observed near the isotropic-cholesteric phase transition. Patel and DuPre concluded that it is attributable to short-range chiral ordering of the long axes of the macromolecules. 

In general, cholesteric liquid crystals are found in optically active (chiral) mesogenic materials. Nematic liquid crystals containing optically active compounds show cholesteric liquid crystalline behavior. Mixtures of right-handed and left-handed cholesteric liquid crystals at an adequate proportion give nematic liquid crystals. From these results cholesteric liquid crystals are sometimes classified into nematic liquid crystals as twisted nematics . On the other hand, cholesteric liquid crystals form batonnet and terrace-like droplets on cooling from isotropic liquids. These behaviors are characteristic of smectic liquid crystals. Furthermore, cholesteric liquid crystals correspond to optically negative mono-axial crystals, different from nematic... 

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