Properties nematic liquid crystals

Stannarius R 1998 Elastic properties of nematic liquid crystals 1998 Handbook of Liquid Crystals Vol 2A. Low Molecular Weight Liquid Crystals led D Demus, J Goodby, G W Gray, Fl-W Speiss and V Vill (New York Wiley-VCH)... 

Physical properties of liquid crystals are generally anisotropic (see, for example, du Jeu, 1980). The anisotropic physical properties that are relevant to display devices are refractive index, dielectric permittivity and orientational elasticity (Raynes, 1983). A nematic LC has two principal refractive indices, Un and measured parallel and perpendicular to the nematic director respectively. The birefringence An = ny — rij is positive, typically around 0.25. The anisotropy in the dielectric permittivity which is given by As = II — Sj is the driving force for most electrooptic effects in LCs. The electric contribution to the free energy contains a term that depends on the angle between the director n and the electric field E and is given by... 

Besides the direct electrical induction of electro-optical effects in liquid crystals, their activation by illumination of photoconductors could be of great technical interest. This method might well permit the electro-optical properties of nematic liquid crystals to be used on a larger scale, because photoconductor activation may eventually be applied to light amplification, optical data processing, and projection display systems, or used for recording phase-type holograms. 

The conformations of flexible chain molecules incorporated in a nematic environment are investigated. Proton-proton and carbon-carbon dipolar coupling constant measurements are attempted for 1,2-dimethoxyethane and 1,2-diphenoxyethane, in addition to 2H NMR observations of quadrupolar splittings. These conformation-dependent properties are analyzed according to the RIS scheme. Studies are further extended to a mixture of 1,2-diphenoxyethane with a nematic liquid crystal, 4,4 -azoxyanisole. 

Polarized light is the must powerful tool for investigating liquid crystals, all of which exhibit characteristic optical properties. A smectic liquid crystal transmits light more slow ly perpendicular to the layers than parallel to them. Such substances are said to be optically positive. Nematic liquid crystals are also optically positive, bui their action is less definite than that of smectic liquid crystals. However, the application of a magnetic field to nematic liquid crystals lines up their molecules, changing their optical properties and even their viscosity. 

As indicated above, much interest exists in dynamic behavior of thin aligned layers of nematic liquid crystals. It is not surprising to find, therefore, that measurement of the anisotropy of transport properties has been the objective of many studies of thermotropic systems. The literature on anisotropic thermal conductivity in nematic liquid crystals has been reviewed recently by Rajan and Picot (12). Among the studies of anisotropic diffusion are those of Yun and Fredrickson (13), Bline... 

The concept of local perturbations of the director around nanoparticles, often linked to homeotropic anchoring to the nanoparticle surface, is a concept often brought forward in discussions of thermal, optical and electro-optic properties of nanoparticle-doped nematic liquid crystals, which adds a slightly different perspective to the invisibility of smaller particles in aligned nematics. This appears to be of particular relevance for particles coated with either hydrocarbon chains or pro-mesogenic as well as mesogenic units. 

Our group pursued another approach of combining the properties of nanoparticles with chiral nematic liquid crystal phases. The idea was to decorate gold nanoparticles with chiral molecules known to be strong inducers of chiral nematic phases. To realize the idea, we prepared a series of alkylthiol-capped gold nanoparticles, either pure monolayer or mixed monolayer, with all or about every second of the alkylthiols end-functionalized with (5)-naproxen (e.g., 6 in Fig. 11) [349]. 

In (2) the spirit of the model becomes clear. We combine the properties of a nematic liquid crystal (the first two lines) with these of a smectic A (the third and fourth lines) and couple both parts (the last lines) in such a way that fl and p are parallel... 

Mesomorphic phases have properties between those of solids and liquids. For example, rod-shaped or disk-shaped molecules often melt to form liquid crystals, which are fluid, but contain some order. One form of liquid crystals formed from rod-shaped molecules, called a nematic liquid crystal, is shown in Fig. 11. The molecules in the nematic phase are partially ordered in one dimension, with an orientation angle that can vary from one domain to another in the fluid. The forces... 

One of the characteristic properties of rod-like polymers is that their concentrated solutions form lyotropic liquid crystals51. Such examples among synthetic polymers are polyamides52,53 and polyisocyanates54 which form cholesteric or nematic liquid crystals in selected solvents. 

In order to understand the basic principles of operation of the many different kinds of LCDs being developed and/or manufactured at the present time, it is necessary to briefly describe the liquid crystalline state and then define the physical properties of direct relevance to LCDs. First, the nematic, smectic and columnar liquid crystalline states will be described briefly. However, the rest of the monograph dealing with liquid crystals will concentrate on nematic liquid crystals and their physical properties, since the vast majority of LCDs manufactured operate using mixtures of thermotropic, non-amphiphilic rodlike organic compounds in the nematic state. 

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