Optical response from dual-frequency hybrid-aligned nematic liquid crystal cells

Dual-frequency hybrid-aligned nematic liquid crystal cells and the influence of the parameters of a control electric field on their optical response are studied. It is found that the harmonic oscillations of the optical transmission in such cells are observed in the interval between low frequency-to-high frequency voltage switchings unlike in conventional twisted nematic cells. A V-shaped bistable optical response is obtained by successively applying sinusoidal electric fields with frequencies of 1 and 30 kHz to a twisted nematic cell. For a liquid crystal layer 8 ??m thick and an applied voltage of 50 V, the response time is 10 ms. In a hybrid-aligned twisted-nematic cell with a large initial tilt angle of the director (about 70°), the V-shaped optical response is observed when the inclined homeotropic state is switched to the twisted state by applying a 30-kHz field. The initial structure of the layer recovers as a result of natural elastic relaxation, and the response time increases roughly fourfold.     

反扭曲向列相液晶盒中的引流

根据Erickson-Leslie流体动力学方程,研究了反扭曲向列相液晶盒.该液晶盒只有在有外场的情况下才会扭曲.通过计算模拟得出指向矢构形和流速与时间的关系.在外加电压情况下,由于存在引流效应导致指向矢分布不正常.     

Rotational reorientation of the director in twisted nematic liquid-crystal cells

The orientational relaxation of the director to its equilibrium orientation under electric, elastic, and viscous torques arising in twisted nematic liquid-crystal cells is investigated. It is shown that the relaxation time of the director depends strongly on the external electric field strength and weakly on the energy of anchoring of liquid-crystal molecules to the surfaces of the cell. The relaxation time of the director anomalously increases in electric fields close to the Fréedericksz threshold. It is established that, at specific strengths of the external electric field, the relaxation can occur in the form of traveling waves propagating from one edge to the other edge of the twisted nematic liquid-crystal cell. The calculations of the relaxation processes in the vicinity of the nematic-smectic A phase transition temperature demonstrate that the distortion of the director field is uniform over the entire cross section of the liquid-crystal cell and does not depend on the strength of anchoring of the liquid-crystal molecules to the surfaces of the cell.     

Relaxation of the director field in the form of a traveling wave in twisted nematic cells

The orientational relaxation of the director field toward its equilibrium orientation in the form of a traveling wave is investigated. It is shown that the nonlinear relaxation can occur in the form of a traveling wave in a twisted nematic cell under specific conditions for the external electric field and material parameters characterizing the nematic liquid crystal. The calculations of the relaxation processes in the form of traveling waves have demonstrated that these nonlinear processes in the twisted nematic cell proceed more easily when the initial perturbation of the director is induced in the vicinity of one of the bounding cell surfaces.     

ON THE SATURATION BEHAVIOUR OF TWISTED NEMATIC LIQUID CRYSTAL CELLS WITH A NONZERO PRETILT ANGLE

Equations are obtained for the surface tilt angle and the twist angle of the director in a twisted nematic liquid crystal cell under a high magnetic field. Under a zero pretilt angle, the two equations reduce to those obtained by Sugimura et al. This fact has also been demonstrated numerically. With finite field strength and nonzero pretilt angle, no saturation transition exists.     

Magnetization recovery for signal enhancement: a fast imaging DEFT-based technique

This paper describes the development and application of a new fast MRI technique based on the DEFT principle. The sequence named MAgnetization RecoverY for Signal Enhancement (MARYSE) is composed of two completely symmetric gradient echoes separated by a 180 degrees refocusing pulse. The RF pulse scheme, 90 degrees x-180 degrees y-90 degrees -x enables restoration of the transverse magnetization along the longitudinal axis, and consequently artificially increases R1 relaxation rate. In this sequence, the period between the excitation pulse and the restoring pulse (Tem: transverse magnetization evolution time) is very short (< 10 ms). This makes possible a significant increase in signal-to-noise ratio, even with a relatively short repetition time (20 ms). Simulations were performed for different values of Tem and TR at definite T1 and T2 and for different values of T1 and T2 at constant Tem and TR. Relevant signal enhancement for species with long relaxation time constants as compared to classical gradient echo and fast spin-echo imaging was expected. In vitro studies on a fat/water phantom confirmed this simulation. Application of MARYSE to mouse brain imaging permitted to visualize almost completely cerebrospinal fluid of the ventricles, a signal usually partially saturated in fast gradient echo imaging.     

Full prediction of the broadband optical modulation performance of a twisted nematic liquid crystal cell

We present a procedure to obtain the physical parameters responsible of twisted nematic liquid crystal (LC) cells optical modulation. The novelty of our approach is based on the use of spectroscopic measurements of the light transmitted by the system polarizer-LC cell-analyzer, combined with a previously proposed simple physical model of the LC twist and tilt distribution along cell. The procedure involves two steps: the first one yields off-state parameters like the LC director orientation, the twist angle, and the optical path difference (cell gap); the second step yields the effective retardances of the central and edge LC layers. The use of a spectroscopic method provides a full characterization of the LC cell as a function of both the voltage and the wavelength. The complete procedure leads to a very accurate prediction of the transmitted light broadband spectrum, as well as the complex (amplitude and phase) modulation for any wavelength within the calibration range.     

Transformation of cholesteric orientational structures and optical textures induced by the electric field–driven ionic modification of surface anchoring

The reorientation of a cholesteric liquid crystal with a large helical pitch induced by the electric field–driven modification of surface anchoring is investigated. In the initial state, the liquid crystal cell has a homeotropic alignment of the director. An applied dc electric field produced a twisted homeoplanar structure of the cholesteric.     

Comparison of optical compensations based on discotic liquid crystals with linear and non-linear orientation for wide viewing angle twisted nematic liquid crystal displays

Optical compensation film using discotic liquid crystals has been commercialized to suppress light leakage of twisted nematic (TN) liquid crystal (LC) cells in the dark state when the viewing directions are off-axes. In the conventional film, the tilt angle variation of the discotic LC layers is linear, whereas that of the rod-like LC layers in the TN cell is non-linear with twist alignment. We investigated the optical compensation effects in terms of iso-contrast ratio, gray scale inversion and color shift with linear and non-linear orientation in a tilt angle or twist and non-twist orientation on TN-LC cells. The results showed that the optical compensation with non-linear orientation exhibited an improved performance in suppressing light leakage in the dark state.     

Flow-induced twist-compression in a twisted nematic cell

An optical convergent-beam guided-wave technique is used to explore in detail the dynamic flow effects in a twisted nematic cell. During switch-on it is found that the dynamic flow compresses the director twist to regions close to the cell walls. For high fields this twist compression takes the cell far beyond the Mauguin limit and it no longer effectively guides the polarization of the light through the cell. This results in a very fast switch to a transient dark state.     

Three-level phase modulator based on orthoconic antiferroelectric liquid crystals

Surface-stabilized orthoconic antiferroelectric liquid crystals (OAFLCs) have a director tilt of theta = 45 degrees and are, with no field applied, negatively uniaxial with the optic axis perpendicular to the cell substrates. We demonstrate that OAFLCs can be utilized to achieve lossless phase modulation with three almost equidistant phase levels. This turns out to be true also for polymer-stabilized OAFLCs, where the polymer network increases the switching speed of the device without affecting the phase modulation appreciably.     

Chain dynamics in a chiral C phase by deuteron spin relaxation study

Molecular reorientations and internal conformational transitions of an aligned chiral liquid crystal (LC) 10B1M7 are studied by means of deuterium spin-lattice relaxation in its smectic A (SmA) and smectic C* (SmC*) phase. The motional model which is applicable to uniaxial phases of many LCs is found to be adequate even when the phase is a tilted SmC* phase. The deuterium NMR spectrum in this phase cannot discern rotations of the molecular director about the pitch axis. The basic assumption is that the phase biaxiality is practically unobservable. However, the relaxation rates can be accounted for by the tilt angle between the molecular director and the layer normal in the SmC* phase. The tumbling motion appears to show a higher activation energy upon entering from the uniaxial SmA into the SmC* phase.     

Levitation, lift, and bidirectional motion of colloidal particles in an electrically driven nematic liquid crystal

We study electric-field-induced dynamics of colloids in a nematic cell, experimentally and by computer simulations. Solid particles in the nematic bulk create director distortions of dipolar type. Elastic repulsion from the walls keeps the particles in the middle of cell. The ac electric field reorients the dipoles and lifts them to top or bottom, depending on dipole orientation. Once near the walls, the colloids are carried along two antiparallel horizontal directions by nematic backflow. Computer simulations of the backflow agree with the experiment.     

Dynamics of nematic liquid crystal disclinations: the role of the backflow

We measure the electric-field-driven annihilation of nematic disclination pairs with strength +/- 1/2 in the 4-cyano-4'-n-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) liquid crystal. The use of a very weak azimuthal anchoring ensures a two-dimensional director field. The relaxation is governed by the formation of a pi wall connecting the two opposite charge defects. The +1/2 disclinations move almost twice as fast as the -1/2 disclinations. The simple used geometry allows a quantitative comparison with numerical studies based on the hydrodynamics of the tensorial order parameter. The simulations show that in the pi wall regime the symmetry breaking is due to the backflow and not to the elastic anisotropy.     

Transverse and lateral structure of the spin-flop phase in fe/cr antiferromagnetic superlattices

Direct evidence of the nonuniformly canted state of the spin-flop phase induced by a magnetic field applied to Fe/Cr(100) superlattices is obtained by polarized neutron reflectometry. It is unambiguously demonstrated that the magnetization of the alternating Fe layers is twisted through the multilayer stack proving a stable noncollinear configuration. The maximal tilt at the end layers progressively reduces towards the center of the multilayer. The set of tilt angles is deduced from a model-free data evaluation employing the supermatrix routine. Spin-flip off-specular scattering is determined by the in-plane magnetization fluctuations and is fitted by a theoretical model of domains.     

用偏光干涉法动态测量扭曲向列型液晶指向矢

提出一种基于双折射晶体劈的偏振态实时测量方法,并将该方法用于扭曲向列型液晶透射光的偏振态分析,实现了液晶分子平均指向矢的动态测量.利用基于晶体劈的偏光干涉法将待测光的偏振参量编码为两组干涉条纹,通过对干涉条纹定位实现偏振态的实时测量;再根据液晶指向矢的倾角、扭转角与透射光偏振态之间的关系,推算出液晶分子平均指向矢的动态信息.本实验测量液晶指向矢的速度为每秒5次,液晶平均指向矢的倾角、扭转角的测量准确度达到0.2°.本文研究为液晶分子平均指向矢的动态测量提供了一种有效途径.     

栅状表面液晶盒的光学属性

基于栅状表面等效锚定能公式和弹性理论,对Bryan-Brown等人提出的混和排列向列相液晶盒进行研究.通过变分理论得到指向矢倾角和扭曲角满足的方程和边界条件.根据这些方程和边界条件,利用差分迭代方法计算出指向矢倾角和扭曲角对应某一个δ/λ值在不同电压下的分布.应用琼斯矩阵方法,研究这种液晶盒的电光效应.这些结果都与栅状表面的几何参数有关,即与周期λ和振幅δ有关.     

Variations of the 1H spin-lattice relaxation in a fatty liver model as compared to normal liver

We report the results of an in vitro study on ethionine-injected rat liver (EI) and on normal rat liver (C) performed analyzing with iterative fitting procedures the 1H spin-lattice relaxation curves detected by IR pulse sequence at 20 MHz and at 37 degrees C on fresh excised samples. Single-exponential functions did not adequately describe the experimental curves both in EI and in C group. The analysis of the curves by two-exponential hypothesis showed a small portion of the signal characterizable by a time constant of about 80 ms, common both to EI and to C samples. A slowing of about 30% in the relaxation characterized the remaining portion of the curve (90-95%) in EI as compared to C samples. The hypothesis that the 1H of the triglycerides vacuoles present in EI livers had a relaxation curve additional to the remaining signal was checked by three-exponential analysis. The results were not in contrast with the known value of the triglycerides percentage content and with the spin-lattice relaxation time of the -CH2 group 1H obtained in different experimental conditions in the same fatty liver model. The negative results of the three-exponential analysis on normal liver curves as well as the favorable controls performed to test the analysis procedure supported further this hypothesis. The remaining signal after subtraction of the triglycerides contribution showed still the small fast portion and the increase of the relaxation time of the major portion (from approximately 300 ms up to approximately 400 ms) as compared to C samples.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Switchable broadband achromatic half-wave plate with nematic liquid crystals

We describe a broadband achromatic half-wave retarder for normally incident light of arbitrary polarization. The device consists of a stack of one nematic liquid-crystal cell with uniform alignment sandwiched between two twisted nematic layers that have identical twist angles (135 degrees) but different orientations of their surface alignment. As a specific application, for light with linear polarization at 45 degrees to the optic axis of the homogeneous cell the stack functions efficiently as an optical switch. The switch rotates the incident linear polarization by 90 degrees in the absence of an electric field. When sufficiently high voltage is applied to all three layers, the device produces a near-zero effect on the incident polarization. An achromatic response in the spectral range 400-700 nm is achieved for both activated and quiescent states.     

利用TD-NMR技术研究杨木高温干燥过程水分分布

木材中水分状态变化和迁移对木材的物理性质有重要影响.通过时域核磁共振技术(TD-NMR)可以从分子层面解读木材与水分的关系,可以为木材干燥、木制品加工提供理论依据和实践参考.该研究以北京杨为研究对象,通过对高温干燥过程中木材内部水分变化的自由感应衰减(FID)曲线和横向弛豫时间(T_2)进行测定与分析,探究木材干燥过程中水分状态变化及迁移过程.研究结果表明,FID和T_2信号量与木材含水率高度线性相关,由此可以计算木材在干燥过程中任意时刻的含水率.通过对干燥过程中水分T_2分布的分析表明:心材试件在干燥过程中,长弛豫时间自由水(c状态水分)的拟合面积出现了先减小后增大然后再减小的趋势,而边材试件中则不存在这种现象.在北京杨心材试件中含量最多的是弛豫时间为10 ms数量级的水分,而在边材试件中各状态水分含量差异较小,含量最多的是弛豫时间为100 ms数量级的水分.在高温干燥过程中,边材试件内各状态水分百分含量减少的速度快于心材,各试件中自由水的蒸发速度明显快于结合水.