The inherent dynamics of isotropic- and nematic-phase liquid crystals

2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (23) ◽  
pp. 234505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Layne Frechette ◽  
Richard M. Stratt
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Nematic Phase ◽  
Phase Liquid

scholarly journals Diffusionless transformation of soft cubic superstructure from amorphous to simple cubic and body-centered cubic phases

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Liu ◽  
Wenzhe Liu ◽  
Bo Guan ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
Lei Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Photonic Materials ◽  
Simple Cubic ◽  
Cubic Phases ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Phase Liquid ◽  
Blue Phase ◽  
Blue Phases ◽  
Temperature Window

AbstractIn a narrow temperature window in going from the isotropic to highly chiral orders, cholesteric liquid crystals exhibit so-called blue phases, consisting of different morphologies of long, space-filling double twisted cylinders. Those of cubic spatial symmetry have attracted considerable attention in recent years as templates for soft photonic materials. The latter often requires the creation of monodomains of predefined orientation and size, but their engineering is complicated by a lack of comprehensive understanding of how blue phases nucleate and transform into each other at a submicrometer length scale. In this work, we accomplish this by intercepting nucleation processes at intermediate stages with fast cross-linking of a stabilizing polymer matrix. We reveal using transmission electron microscopy, synchrotron small-angle X-ray diffraction, and angle-resolved microspectroscopy that the grid of double-twisted cylinders undergoes highly coordinated, diffusionless transformations. In light of our findings, the implementation of several applications is discussed, such as temperature-switchable QR codes, micro-area lasing, and fabrication of blue phase liquid crystals with large domain sizes.

Mesophase properties of fluorene-core mesogens and their effects on blue phase liquid crystals

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ying Shi ◽  
WanLi He ◽  
YaQian Zhang ◽  
YongFeng Cui ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Phase Liquid ◽  
Blue Phase

Field-induced lattice transformation of blue-phase liquid crystals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iam-Choon Khoo ◽  
Chun-Wei Chen ◽  
Tsung-Hsien Lin
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Phase Liquid ◽  
Blue Phase

scholarly journals Synthesis of 4-Chloro-1,3-Diazobenzene Bent-Cores Liquid Crystals and Characterizations of Their Mesogenic Behaviors and Photoisomerization Phenomena

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinying Lu ◽  
Zelong Zhang ◽  
Daoren Yan ◽  
Zhiyong Zhang ◽  
Jintao Guan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Transition ◽  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Nematic Phase ◽  
Dipole Moments ◽  
Intermolecular Forces ◽  
Acetate Solution ◽  
Molecular Dipole ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Nematic Phases ◽  
Terminal Chain

<p></p><p>Azobenzene-based bent-core liquid crystals demonstrate a variety of mesomorphic behaviors and photochromic properties which are desirable for optical switching. Nowadays azobenzene-based bent-core liquid crystal (ABLC) compounds usually exhibit at least one of the following traits which are unfavorable for practical applications: (1) narrow temperature windows of nematic phases, (2) high phase transition temperature, and (3) long period of light stimulation to reach photostationary states. In this study, a series of ABLC compounds <b>4a–4g</b> were synthesized by adding azo functional groups and chlorine substituent to the central bent-cores to form 4-chloro-1,3-dizaophenylene bent-cores. These ABLC compounds were characterized by i. fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), <sup>1</sup>H and <sup>13</sup>C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectrometry (MS) for their structures, ii. differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy (POM) for their mesogenic properties, and iii. ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) and POM for their photosensitivity. The experimental results show that all compounds exhibited broad temperature windows of mesogenic phases. In particular, compound <b>4c</b> showed a broad temperature window of 63.8 °C for nematic phase. Molecular simulations indicate that the molecular dipole moments of compounds <b>4a–4g</b> are closely associated with the temperatures of Sm – N phase transition and temperature ranges of nematic phases. In addition, simulation results reveal that the terminal alkyl chains exhibit a diphasic effect on the molecular polarity: extending the terminal chain can initially reduce and then increase the molecular dipole moments due to the severe structural disorder of overly extended terminal chain. These findings indicate that the intermolecular forces play a vital role in shaping the mesogenic behavior of ABLCs. Comprehensive characterizations of photochromatic properties show that <b>4c</b> was highly photosensitive and displayed rapid photoisomerization processes. At room temperature, compound <b>4c </b>dissolved in ethyl acetate solution can reach photostationary state in 10 seconds. At 95 °C, compound <b>4c</b> in nematic phase became isotropic liquid under UV-irradiation in 3 seconds due to the forward <i>trans – cis</i> photoisomerization and can be restored to be nematic under natural visible light in 5 seconds because of the backward <i>cis – trans</i> photoisomerization. This study linking the mechanistic details with mesogenic properties provides valuable insights to improve future design of azobenzene bent-core liquid crystals for practical applications especially in photonic applications.</p><p><br></p><p>Pertinent molecular structure files (mol2) can be downloaded from</p><p><a href="https://github.com/er1czz/ABLC">https://github.com/er1czz/ABLC</a><br></p><p></p>

scholarly journals Order Parameters, Orientational Distribution Functions and Heliconical Tilt Angles of Oligomeric Liquid Crystals

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Mandle ◽  
John W. Goodby
Keyword(s):  
Phase Transition ◽  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Tilt Angle ◽  
Order Parameter ◽  
Nematic Phase ◽  
Liquid Crystalline ◽  
Thermal Evolution ◽  
Order Parameters ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Orientational Distribution

We compare the order parameters, orientational distribution functions (ODF) and heliconical tilt angles of the TB phase exhibited by a liquid-crystalline dimer (CB7CB) to a tetramer (O47) and hexamer (O67) by SAXS/WAXS. Following the N-TB phase transition we find that all order parameters decrease, and while 〈P2 〉 remains positive 〈P4 〉 becomes negative. For all three materials the order parameter 〈P6 〉 is near zero in both phases. The ODF is sugarloaf-like in the nematic phase and volcano-like in the TB phase, allowing us to estimate the heliconical tilt angle of each material and its thermal evolution. The heliconical tilt angle appears to be largely independent of the material studied despite the differing number of mesogenic units.

Isotropic-Nematic Phase Transition in Liquid Crystals

1970 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 500-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-peng Fan ◽  
Michael J. Stephen
Keyword(s):  
Phase Transition ◽  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Nematic Phase

Ultra-fast switching blue phase liquid crystals diffraction grating stabilized by chiral monomer

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (18) ◽  
pp. 185103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramesh Manda ◽  
Srinivas Pagidi ◽  
Surjya Sarathi Bhattacharya ◽  
Hyesun Yoo ◽  
Arun Kumar T ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystals ◽  
Diffraction Grating ◽  
Fast Switching ◽  
Phase Liquid ◽  
Blue Phase
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