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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Calorimetric Study Of Nematic Prewetting, Xuewu Liu, David W. Allender, D. Finotello Sep 2002

Calorimetric Study Of Nematic Prewetting, Xuewu Liu, David W. Allender, D. Finotello

David W Allender

We report specific-heat measurements for a series of liquid crystals imbedded in a porous cylindrical geometry. Above the nematic-to-isotropic transition and dependent on nematic width (or chain length), the specific heat shows a small peak. In analogy to known ellipsometry results, the peak is believed to be the signature of a nematic prewetting transition.


Electrical Conductivity And Thermopower Of Cu–Sio[Sub 2] Nanogranular Films., W. Chen, J. Lin, X. Zhang, H. Shin, Jeffrey Dyck, C. Uher Jul 2002

Electrical Conductivity And Thermopower Of Cu–Sio[Sub 2] Nanogranular Films., W. Chen, J. Lin, X. Zhang, H. Shin, Jeffrey Dyck, C. Uher

Jeffrey Dyck

We have measured the thermopower S and electrical conductivity σ in a series of Cu[sub x](SiO[sub 2])[sub 1-x] nanogranular films between 2 and 300 K with Cu volume fraction x varying from 0.43 up to 1.0. At low temperatures, disorder-enhanced electron-electron interaction effects dictate the behavior of σ. A crossover of the temperature dependence from σ∝ √T to σ∝ T[sup 1/3] is observed as x is lowered and the metal-insulator transition is approached. S is small, shows linear temperature dependence, and is rather insensitive to the change of x. Effects of annealing are also discussed.


Three-Dimensional Dye Distribution In Photo-Oriented Liquid-Crystal Alignment Layers, S. Bardon, D. Coleman, N. A. Clark, T. Kosa, H. Yuan, Peter Palffy-Muhoray Mar 2002

Three-Dimensional Dye Distribution In Photo-Oriented Liquid-Crystal Alignment Layers, S. Bardon, D. Coleman, N. A. Clark, T. Kosa, H. Yuan, Peter Palffy-Muhoray

Peter Palffy-Muhoray

The three-dimensional optical anisotropy of photo-buffed dye-doped polymer films and the resulting orientation imparted to a liquid crystal in contact are probed using total internal reflection. Although the linearly polarized writing light generates a uniaxial distribution of dye molecules, the polymer films are biaxial, a result of symmetry breaking by the film surface.