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THE PHYSICS OF FERROELECTRIC AND ANTIFERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTALS
by I Muševic, R Blinc & B Zekš (J Stefan Institute, Slovenia)
This book presents the basic physics of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystals in a simple and transparent way. It treats both the basic and the applied aspects of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystal research, starting from the discovery of ferroelectricity in liquid crystals in 1975 and ending with the resonant X-ray experiment in ferrielectric and antiferrielectric phases in 1998. Particular attention is paid to the optical properties, electrooptic effects, phase transitions and experimental methods used in liquid crystal research. Special chapters are devoted to dielectric spectroscopy, light scattering, NMR, STM and AFM in complex fluids. The more than 300 illustrations help to present the basic physics of liquid crystalline ferroelectrics and antiferroelectrics in a way that can be easily followed by students, engineers and scientists dealing with liquid crystal research.
Contents:
- Symmetry, ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity in liquid
crystals
- Chiral phases of achiral molecules
- Broken symmetry and elementary excitations
- Landau theory of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystals
- Order parameter dynamics, soft modes and gapless phasons
- Ferroelectric liquid crystals in external magnetic and DC electric fields
- Phase transitions in thin cells
- Surface-induced polarity
- Soliton and plane wave dynamics in thin cells
- Freely suspended films
- Linear optics of helical structures
- Birefringence, optical rotation and quasielastic light scattering in ferroelectric and antiferrolectric phases
- Linear electrooptic response of ferroelectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystals
- Magnetic-field induced biaxiality
- Dielectric dispersion
- Soft and phase mode dynamics
- Dielectric response of a multisoliton lattice
- Polarization noise
- Deuteron NMR in ferroelectric and antiferroelectric liquid crystals
- Anisotropy of the critical magnetic field
- Polar and quadrupolar biasing of molecular rotation around the long molecular axis
- 14N NQR and 13C NMR in tilted smectic phases
- Synclinic versus anticlinic ordering in tilted smectics
- Order parameter dynamics and a doubling of a smectic unit cell in antiferroelectric liquid crystals
- Optical properties of the antiferroelectric phase
- Dielectric, linear and nonlinear electrooptic response of the antiferroelectric phase
- Ferroelectricity, antiferroelectricity and intermediate phases
- Discrete models of intermediate phases
- STM and AFM in complex liquids
- Surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal displays
- Ultrafast electroclinic effect
- Deformed helix mode ferroelectric displays
- Chevrons in SSFC displays
- Ion-director coupling and depolarization field in SSFLCD
- Landau theory of second order phase transitions
- Survey of different experimental methods
- Nuts and bolts collection
Readership: Graduate students, engineers and scientists dealing with liquid
crystals and optical display.
"... this is an excellent and comprehensive book, especially for those who prefer a more formal treatment of the topics ... Because many of the topics apply to nonferroelectric liquid crystals as well, I believe that this book has an important place on the shelf of anybody who deals with liquid crystals; it is also an absolute 'must' for anybody who works on FLCs and AFLCs."
Charles Rosenblatt
Case Western Reserve University |
"The structure of the book is extremely logical and has been well thought out ... The real strength of the book is in the clear and concise explanations the authors give of many aspects of underlying theory and the implications of various experimental results. Many of the discussions of conflicting data and ideas are also presented in an unbiased way. This makes the book eminently readable, not only as a resource for advanced researchers in the area, but also as a first introduction for new graduate students ... This is an essential reference work and should occupy a place on all liquid-crystal bookcases."
| Journal of Applied Crystallography |
| 680pp |
Pub. date: Jul 2000 |
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