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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Ordering And Self-Diffusion In The 1st Molecular Layer At A Liquid-Crystal Polymer Interface, G. P. Crawford, Deng-Ke Yang, S. Zumer, D. Finotello, J. William Doane Oct 2013

Ordering And Self-Diffusion In The 1st Molecular Layer At A Liquid-Crystal Polymer Interface, G. P. Crawford, Deng-Ke Yang, S. Zumer, D. Finotello, J. William Doane

Deng-Ke Yang

H-2 NMR of a liquid crystal confined to submicron cylindrical cavities, in a 17-K interval above the nematic-isotropic transition, reveals a weakly orientationally ordered molecular layer at the cavity wall governed by local interactions. The order (S0 = 0.02) is temperature independent so that a partial wetting is realized with no prewetting transition expected. A molecular exchange rate between the surface layer and the bulk is measured to be approximately 10(3) s-1. The coherence length measuring the order penetrating further into the cavity is described by alpha = 0.4 and xi-0 = 0.6 nm.


Stripe Domain Phase Of A Thin Nematic Film And The K13 Divergence Term, Oleg Lavrentovich, V. M. Pergamenshchik Oct 2013

Stripe Domain Phase Of A Thin Nematic Film And The K13 Divergence Term, Oleg Lavrentovich, V. M. Pergamenshchik

Oleg Lavrentovich

To verify the status of the divergence K13 term in the elastic theory of liquid crystals we study submicron films placed onto an isotropic fluid substrate in the Langmuir trough (Langmuir liquid crystal, LLC). The upper and lower surfaces favor normal and tangential molecular orientation, respectively. The periodic domain phase is observed in a nematic LLC. The dependence of the periodicity L of the domains vs film thickness h can be explained only if the elastic energy is accompanied by divergence terms with nonzero constants K13 and K24. It is found that for 5CB K13 almost-equal-to -0.2K11.


Monte Carlo Simulations Of Stable Point Defects In Hybrid Nematic Films, C. Chiccoli, Oleg Lavrentovich, P. Pasini, C. Zannoni Oct 2013

Monte Carlo Simulations Of Stable Point Defects In Hybrid Nematic Films, C. Chiccoli, Oleg Lavrentovich, P. Pasini, C. Zannoni

Oleg Lavrentovich

Monte Carlo (MC) simulations based exclusively on nearest-neighbor intermolecular interactions reveal the existence of stable long-range deformations and topological defects in a thin nematic film confined between two surfaces with antagonistic (normal and tangential) molecular orientations. Thus the MC technique allows one to describe a delicate balance of bulk elasticity and surface energy usually treated only with macroscopic theories.


Optically Isotropic Liquid-Crystal Phase Of Bent-Core Molecules With Polar Nanostructure, Guangxun Liao, S. Stojadinovic, Gerhard Pelzl, Wolfgang Weissflog, Samuel N. Sprunt, Antal Jakli Oct 2013

Optically Isotropic Liquid-Crystal Phase Of Bent-Core Molecules With Polar Nanostructure, Guangxun Liao, S. Stojadinovic, Gerhard Pelzl, Wolfgang Weissflog, Samuel N. Sprunt, Antal Jakli

Antal Jakli

We found that the optically isotropic (I-M) mesophase observed recently below the nematic phase of the bent-core liquid crystal 4-chlororesorcinol bis[4-(4-n-dodecyloxybenzoyloxy)benzoate] shows ferroelectric-type switching. Polarizing microscopic, electric current, dielectric, and dynamic light scattering studies lead us to propose that the I-M phase is composed of interconnected orthoconic racemic smectic (Sm-CaPF) nanodomains with random layer orientations. Near the nematic phase, where the polarization can be saturated by electric fields, the system responds in a fashion analogous to the granular structure of a magnetic spin glass-in particular, we observed that the relaxation back to the nonpoled structure follows a similar, inverse logarithmic …


Onset And Evolution Of The Tilted Smectic Antiphase In A Polar Liquid-Crystal Binary Mixture, Yushan Shi, George Nounesis, Satyendra Kumar Oct 2013

Onset And Evolution Of The Tilted Smectic Antiphase In A Polar Liquid-Crystal Binary Mixture, Yushan Shi, George Nounesis, Satyendra Kumar

Satyendra Kumar

High-resolution x-ray diffraction studies of a binary mixture of the n = 8 and n = 10 homologs of alkoxyphenyl nitrobenzoyloxy benzoate DBnONO2 (52.6 mole % DB10ONO2) have been performed at the onset of the tilted smectic antiphase (Sm-C) upon cooling from the smectic-A(1) phase. Fluctuations of the two competing smectic orders are found to be related to monolayer and partial bilayer ordering. With decreasing temperature, the period of the antiphase in-plane modulation increases while the smectic layer normal tilts at an angle of +/-7 degrees with respect to the director. This tilt partially recovers upon the transition to the …


Finite Molecular Anchoring In The Escaped-Radial Nematic Configuration: A 2-H-Nmr Study, G. P. Crawford, David W. Allender, J. William Doane, M. Vilfan, I. Vilfan Oct 2013

Finite Molecular Anchoring In The Escaped-Radial Nematic Configuration: A 2-H-Nmr Study, G. P. Crawford, David W. Allender, J. William Doane, M. Vilfan, I. Vilfan

David W Allender

The director-field configuration of a nematic liquid crystal confined to cylindrical cavities of polycarbonate Nuclepore membranes ranging from 0.3 to 0.05-mu-m in radius is determined using deuterium nuclear magnetic resonance (H-2 NMR). Spectral patterns from cavities of radius 0.3-mu-m reveal the escaped-radial configuration with singular point defects, but as the cylinder size is decreased, the elastic energy imposed by the curvature of the confining walls competes with the anchoring energy to tilt the directors away from their preferred perpendicular anchoring direction, preventing the expected transition to the planar-radial configuration. A surface fitting parameter is directly determined by simulating H-2-NMR line …