Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals

✍ Scribed by W. H. de Jeu (auth.), S. Martellucci, A. N. Chester (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 492
• Series: NATO ASI Series 290
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The Nato Advanced Study Institute "Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals" was held May 2-12, 1991, in Erice, Sicily. This was the 16th conference organized by the International School of Quantum Electronics, under the auspices of the "Ettore Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture. The subject of "Liquid Crystals" has made amazing progress since the last ISQE Course on this subject in 1985. The present Proceedings give a tutorial introduction to today's most important areas, as well as a review of current results by leading researchers. We have brought together some of the world's acknowledged experts in the field to summarize both the present state of their research and its background. Most of the lecturers attended all the lectures and devoted their spare hours to stimulating discussions. We would like to thank them all for their admirable contributions. The Institute also took advantage of a very active audience; most of the students were active researchers in the field and contributed with discussions and seminars. Some of these student seminars are also included in these Proceedings. We did not modify the original manuscripts in editing this book, but we did group them according to the following topics: 1) "Theoretical Foundations"; 2) "Thermotropic Liquid Crystals"; 3) "Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals"; 4) "Polymeric Liquid Crystals"; and 5) "Lyotropic Liquid Crystals".

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-ix
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Introduction to Thermotropic Liquid Crystal Phases....Pages 3-16
Microscopic Aspects of the Nematic Phases....Pages 17-27
Microscopic Aspects of the Smectic Phases....Pages 29-39
Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals: Introduction to Phase Transition Theories....Pages 41-66
Computer Simulations of Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals....Pages 67-95
Renormalization Group Studies of Statics and Dynamics of Liquid Crystal Phase Transitions....Pages 97-108
Microscopic Liquid Crystal Theory of Nematic Reentrance, Smectic C Ordering, and In-Plane Domain Formation....Pages 109-124
Effects of Anisotropy in the Ordering Mechanisms of Two Dimensional Rotors....Pages 125-131
Front Matter....Pages 133-133
Light Scattering Studies of Thermotropic Liquid Crystals....Pages 135-153
Calorimetric Studies of Liquid Crystal Phase Transitions: Steady State Adiabatic Techniques....Pages 155-174
Calorimetric Studies of Liquid Crystal Phase Transitions: AC Techniques....Pages 175-187
Photothermal Calorimetry: Simultaneous Measurements of Specific Heat and Thermal Conductivity....Pages 189-197
Three Dimensional Phase-Sensitive AC Voltametry: A New Experimental Approach for the Study of Phase Transitions....Pages 199-203
Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) Flow in a Smectic a Liquid Crystal....Pages 205-213
Introduction to Liquid Crystals and Their Molecular Order....Pages 215-225
X-Ray Studies of Thermotropic Liquid Crystals....Pages 227-237
Critical Fluctuations in Free-Standing Smectic Films: An X-Ray Reflectivity Study....Pages 239-244
Dielectric and High Pressure Studies of Liquid Crystals....Pages 245-258
Molecular Dynamics in Nematic Phases: Raman and Infrared Spectroscopy....Pages 259-271
Molecular Dynamics in Nematic Phases: QENS and NMR Spectroscopy....Pages 273-284
Front Matter....Pages 285-285
The Layer and Director Structures of Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals....Pages 287-341
Models for Phase Transitions in Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals: Theory and Experimental Results....Pages 343-363
The Phase Transition from the SmC* to the Smc Phase Induced By an External Magnetic Field....Pages 365-372
Front Matter....Pages 373-373
Phase Transitions and Phase Diagrams in Liquid Crystalline Polymers....Pages 375-397
Molecularly Non-Homogeneous Nematic Polymers....Pages 399-410
Front Matter....Pages 411-411
Introduction and General Theory of Lyotropic Liquid Crystals....Pages 413-426
Phases and Phase Transitions in Nematic Lyotropics....Pages 427-438
X-Ray Studies of Lyotropic Liquid Crystals....Pages 439-445
Phase Transitions in Some Biomolecules....Pages 447-468
Modifications of the Phase Transitions of Model Membranes by Exogen Molecules....Pages 469-489
Back Matter....Pages 491-505

✦ Subjects

Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics;Solid State Physics;Spectroscopy and Microscopy;Condensed Matter Physics;Crystallography;Theoretical, Mathematical and Computational Physics