Order orientational

Orientational order is the most important feature of liquid crystals. The average directions of the long axes of the rod-like molecules are parallel to each other. Because of the orientational order, liquid crystals possess anisotropic physical properties, that is, in different directions they have different responses to external fields such as electric field, magnetic field and shear. In this section, we will discuss how to specify quantitatively orientational order and why rod-hke molecules tend to parallel each other. 

For a rigid elongated liquid crystal molecule, three axes can be attached to it to describe its orientation. One is the long molecular axis and the other two axes are perpendicular to the long molecular axis. Usually the molecule rotates fast around the long molecular axis. Although the molecule is not cylindrical, if there is no hindrance in the rotation in nematic phase, the fast rotation around the long molecular axis makes it behave as a cylinder. There is no preferred direction for the short axes and thus the nematic liquid crystal is usually uniaxial. If there is 

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There has been much activity in the study of monolayer phases via the new optical, microscopic, and diffraction techniques described in the previous section. These experimental methods have elucidated the unit cell structure, bond orientational order and tilt in monolayer phases. Many of the condensed phases have been classified as mesophases having long-range correlational order and short-range translational order. A useful analogy between monolayer mesophases and die smectic mesophases in bulk liquid crystals aids in their characterization (see [182]). 

Grazing incidence excitation of a fluorescent probe in a phospholipid monolayer can also be used to indicate order. The collective tilt of the molecules in a domain inferred from such measurements is indicative of long-range orientational order [222]. 

Shechtman D, Blech I, Gratias D and Cahn J W 1984 Metallic phase with long range orientational order and no translational symmetry Phys. Rev. Lett. 53 1951-3... 

The practical goal of EPR is to measure a stationary or time-dependent EPR signal of the species under scrutiny and subsequently to detemiine magnetic interactions that govern the shape and dynamics of the EPR response of the spin system. The infomiation obtained from a thorough analysis of the EPR signal, however, may comprise not only the parameters enlisted in the previous chapter but also a wide range of other physical parameters, for example reaction rates or orientation order parameters. 

The label liquid crystal seems to be a contradiction in tenns since a crystal cannot be liquid. However, tire tenn refers to a phase fonned between a crystal and a liquid, witli a degree of order intennediate between tire molecular disorder of a liquid and tire regular stmcture of a crystal. Wlrat we mean by order here needs to be defined carefully. The most important property of liquid crystal phases is tliat tire molecules have long-range orientational order. For tliis to be possible tire molecules must be anisotropic, whetlier tliis results from a rodlike or disclike shape. 

Thennotropic liquid crystal phases are fonned by anisotropic molecules witli long-range orientational order and in many types of stmcture witli some degree of translational order. The main types of mesogen are Arose tlrat are rodlike or calamitic and Arose Arat are disclike or discotic. 

Figure C2.2.4. Types of smectic phase. Here tire layer stacking (left) and in-plane ordering (right) are shown for each phase. Bond orientational order is indicated for tire hexB, SmI and SmF phases, i.e. long-range order of lattice vectors. However, tliere is no long-range translational order in tliese phases.

Of spectroscopic teclmiques, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been most widely used to measure orientational ordering in liquid crystals [M, 57 and ]. Most commonly, changes of line splittings in the spectra of... 

NMR is not the best method to identify thennotropic phases, because the spectmm is not directly related to the symmetry of the mesophase, and transitions between different smectic phases or between a smectic phase and the nematic phase do not usually lead to significant changes in the NMR spectmm [ ]. However, the nematic-isotropic transition is usually obvious from the discontinuous decrease in orientational order. NMR can, however,... 

Thennotropic liquid crystal phases are fonned by rodlike or disclike molecules. However, in the following we consider orientational ordering of rodlike molecules for definiteness, although the same parameters can be used for discotics. In a liquid crystal phase, the anisotropic molecules tend to point along the same direction. This is known as the director, which is a unit vector denoted n. 

An orientational order parameter can be defined in tenns of an ensemble average of a suitable orthogonal polynomial. In liquid crystal phases with a mirror plane of symmetry nonnal to the director, orientational ordering is specified. 

To completely specify the orientational ordering, the complete set of orientational order parameters, P/,L = 0,2,4.. ., is required. Only the even rank order parameters are non-zero for phases with a symmetry plane perjDendicular to the director (e.g. N and SmA phases). 

We consider first the Maier-Saupe tlieory and its variants. In its original foniiulation, tills tlieory assumed tliat orientational order in nematic liquid crystals arises from long-range dispersion forces which are weakly anisotropic [60, 61 and 62]. However, it has been pointed out [63] tliat tlie fonii of tlie Maier-Saupe potential is equivalent to one in... 

This can be inserted in equation (02.2.3) to give tlie orientational distribution function, and tlius into equation (02.2.6) to deteniiine the orientational order parameters. These are deteniiined self-consistently by variation of tlie interaction strength iin equation (c2.2.7). As pointed out by de Gemies and Frost [20] it is possible to obtain tlie Maier-Saupe potential from a simple variational, maximum entropy metliod based on tlie lowest-order anisotropic distribution function consistent witli a nematic phase. 

The Maier-Saupe tlieory was developed to account for ordering in tlie smectic A phase by McMillan [71]. He allowed for tlie coupling of orientational order to tlie translational order, by introducing a translational order parameter which depends on an ensemble average of tlie first haniionic of tlie density modulation noniial to tlie layers as well as / i. This model can account for botli first- and second-order nematic-smectic A phase transitions, as observed experimentally. 

The transition from smectic A to smectic B phase is characterized by tire development of a sixfold modulation of density witliin tire smectic layers ( hexatic ordering), which can be seen from x-ray diffraction experiments where a sixfold symmetry of diffuse scattering appears. This sixfold symmetry reflects tire bond orientational order. An appropriate order parameter to describe tlie SmA-SmB phase transition is tlien [18,19 and 20]... 

McMillan s model [71] for transitions to and from tlie SmA phase (section C2.2.3.2) has been extended to columnar liquid crystal phases fonned by discotic molecules [36, 103]. An order parameter tliat couples translational order to orientational order is again added into a modified Maier-Saupe tlieory, tliat provides tlie orientational order parameter. The coupling order parameter allows for tlie two-dimensional symmetry of tlie columnar phase. This tlieory is able to account for stable isotropic, discotic nematic and hexagonal columnar phases. 

Birgeneau R J and Ulster J D 1978 Bond-orientational order model for smeotio B liquid orystals J. Physique Lett. 39 399-402... 

Jen S, Clark N A, Pershan P S and Priestley E B 1977 Polarized Raman scattering of orientational order in uniaxial liquid crystalline phases J. Chem. Phys. 66 4635-61... 

Hamley I W, Garnett S, Luckhurst G R, Roskilly S J, Pedersen J S, Richardson R M and Seddon J M 1996 Orientational ordering in the nematic phase of a thermotropic liquid crystal A small angle neutron scattering study J. Chem. Phys. 104 10 046-54... 

Emsiey J W, Luckhust G R and Stockley C P 1982 A theory of orientational ordering in uniaxial liquid-crystals composed of molecules with alkyl chains Proc. R. See. A 381 117-28... 

C. Characteristically, these nematic melts show the persistence of orientational order under the influence of elongational flow fields which result in low melt viscosities under typical fiber formation conditions even at high molecular weights. 

Fig. 1. Orientational order of the molecules in a liquid crystal. 9 is the angle between the long axis of a molecule and the direction of preferred orientation...

Fig. 2. Schematic representation of the orientational distribution function f 6) for three classes of condensed media that are composed of elongated molecules A, soHd phase, where /(0) is highly peaked about an angle (here, 0 = 0°) which is restricted by the lattice B, isotropic fluid, where aU. orientations are equally probable and C, Hquid crystal, where orientational order of the soHd has not melted completely.

Positional Distribution Function and Order Parameter. In addition to orientational order, some Hquid crystals possess positional order in that a snapshot at any time reveals that there are parallel planes which possess a higher density of molecular centers than the spaces between these planes. If the normal to these planes is defined as the -axis, then a positional distribution function, can be defined, where is proportional to the... 

There are transition temperatures in some Hquid crystals where the positional order disappears but the orientational order remains (with increasing temperature). The positional order parameter becomes zero at this temperature, but unlike i, this can either be a discontinuous drop to zero at this temperature or a continuous decrease of the order parameter which reaches zero at this temperature. 

Chira.lNema.tlc, If the molecules of a Hquid crystal are opticaHy active (chiral), then the nematic phase is not formed. Instead of the director being locaHy constant as is the case for nematics, the director rotates in heHcal fashion throughout the sample. This chiral nematic phase is shown in Figure 7, where it can be seen that within any plane perpendicular to the heHcal axis the order is nematic-like. In other words, as in a nematic there is only orientational order in chiral nematic Hquid crystals, and no positional order. Keep in mind, however, that there are no planes of any sort in a chiral nematic Hquid crystal, since the director rotates continuously about the heHcal axis. The pitch of the helix formed by the director, ie, the distance it takes for the... 

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