Fréedericksz transition thresholds in pretilted nematic slabs

The appearance of periodically distorted director structures in pretilted nematic slabs with rigid boundary conditions above the Fréedericksz transition is determined as a function of the Frank elastic constant ratios K(2)/K(1), K(3)/K(1), and the pretilt angle. It is found that the periodically distorted state can be reached either directly from the undistorted state on increasing the magnetic field or indirectly through the homogeneously distorted state. A new threshold field for the transition undistorted state, homogeneously distorted state was found for specific ranges of the Frank elastic constant ratios K(2)/K(1), K(3)/K(1), and the pretilt angle.     

Fluctuation shift of the nematic–isotropic phase transition temperature

A macroscopic counterpart to the microscopic mechanism of the straightening dimer mesogens conformations, proposed recently by S.M. Saliti, M.G. Tamba, S.N. Sprunt, C. Welch, G.H. Mehl, A. Jakli, and J.T. Gleeson [Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 217801 (2016)] to explain their experimental observation of the unprecedentedly large shift of the nematic–isotropic transition temperature is discussed. The proposed interpretation is based on singular longitudinal fluctuations of the nematic order parameter. Since these fluctuations are governed by the Goldstone director fluctuations, they exist only in the nematic state. External magnetic field suppresses the singular longitudinal fluctuations of the order parameter (similarly as is the case for the transverse director fluctuations, although with a different scaling over the magnetic field). The reduction of the fluctuations changes the equilibrium value of the magnitude of the order parameter in the nematic state. Therefore, it leads to additional (with respect to the mean field contribution) fluctuation shift of the nematic–isotropic transition temperature. Our mechanism works for any nematic liquid crystals, however the magnitude of the fluctuation shift increases with decrease in the Frank elastic moduli. Since some of these moduli supposed to be anomalously small for so-called bent-core or dimer nematic liquid crystals, just these liquid crystals are promising candidates for the observation of the predicted fluctuation shift of the phase transition temperature.     

Molecular field theory for nematic liquid crystal film with finite layers

The nematic liquid crystal film composed of n molecular layers is studied based upon a spatially anisotropic pair potential, which reproduces approximately the elastic free energy density. On condition that the system has perfect nematic order, as in the Lebwohl—Lasher model, the director in the film is isotropic. The effect of the temperature is investigated by means of molecular field theory. Some new results are obtained. Firstly, symmetry breaking takes place when taking account of the temperature, and the state with the director along the normal of the film has the lowest free energy. Secondly, the N—I phase transition temperature increases as an effect of finite sizes instead of decreasing as in the Lebwohl—Lasher model. Thirdly, the nematic order is induced in the layers near the surface in the isotropic phase.     

A 90° mixed-mode twisted nematic liquid-crystal-on-silicon with an insulating protrusion structure

A 90°mixed-mode twisted nematic liquid-crystal-on-silicon(90°-MTN LCoS) with protrusion located between the adjacent pixels is proposed to reduce the effect of fringing field. The influence of the protrusion with different widths from0.5 μm to 0.9 μm and different heights from 0.3 μm to 0.7 μm is investigated. The results demonstrate that the invalid pixel region width can be reduced by 31.5% via using the protrusion with the suitable width and height compared with no protrusion case, which provides a higher display quality, such as the higher reflectance and contrast ratio.     

Evidence of pressure dependence tricritical point at the nematic–smectic-A transition

We examine the effect of pressure on the nematic to smectic-A N–SmA) transition within the Landau phenomenological theory. The influence of pressure on the N–SmA transition is discussed by varying the coupling between the orientational and translational order parameters. The possibility of the tricritical point at the N–SmA transition is discussed in a phenomenological way. The theoretical predictions are found to be in good qualitative agreement with experimental results.     

Dielectric properties of 4′-n-alkyl-4-cyanobiphenyls in their nematic phases

The principal dielectric constants of the pentyl to octyl derivatives of 4′-n-alkyl-4-cyanobiphenyl have been measured as functions of temperature in their nematic and isotropic phases. All the compounds exhibit a strong positive dielectric anisotropy due to the presence of a large dipole moment along the major molecular axis. The principal dielectric constantsε _‖ andε _⊥ as well as the anisotropy Δε decrease with increasing alkyl chain length. The experimental value of (ε_‖+2ε_⊥) decreases with decreasing temperature, and is throughout less than the extrapolated isotropic value, in conformity with the model of antiferroelectric short range order proposed by Madhusudana and Chandrasekhar.     

Transparent laser damage resistant nematic liquid crystal cell “LCNP3”

There exists the problem in diagnostics of dense plasma (so-called Thomson diagnostics). For this purpose the plasma is illuminated by series of high energy laser pulses. The energy of each separate pulse is as large as 3 J, so it is impossible to generate a burst of such pulses by a single laser. In this situation, the pulses are generated by several independent lasers operating sequentially, and these pulses are to be directed along the same optical path. To form an optical path with λ = 1.064 μm and absolute value of the laser pulse energy of 3 J, a special refractive index matched twisted Nematic Liquid Crystal Cell of type LCNP3, with switching on time τ_ON smaller than 3 μs was applied.     

Fluid–triangular solid phase transitions in a system of two-dimensional nematic quadrupoles

Density functional theory of freezing is used to study the phase transitions in a system of spherical colloidal particles dispersed in nematic host confined to two dimensions. We have considered both the one-component and two-component systems of the colloidal dispersions. Particles are assumed to interact via director distortion-mediated purely repulsive potential which scales as the fifth power of the inverse interparticle separation. The pair correlation functions needed as input information in the density functional theory are calculated by solving Roger–Young integral equation theory. In one-component system, a triangular crystalline phase is found to be stable. On the other hand, considering the freezing of the fluid phase of the binary mixture into a substitutionally disordered triangular solid, the temperature–composition phase diagram is found to have spindle shape for the ratio of quadrupole moment of the particles of the components being 0.9 and 0.8. The phase diagram changes to an azeotrope at a ratio 0.7. The results are verifiable in real-space experiments on nematic quadrupoles confined to a two-dimensional plane.     

Cholesteric–nematic transitions induced by a shear flow and a magnetic field

The untwisting of the helical structure of a cholesteric liquid crystal under the action of a magnetic field and a shear flow has been studied theoretically. Both factors can induce the cholesteric–nematic transition independently; however, the difference in the orienting actions of the magnetic field and the shear flow leads to competition between magnetic and hydrodynamic mechanisms of influence on the cholesteric liquid crystal. We have analyzed different orientations of the magnetic field relative to the direction of the flow in the shear plane. In a number of limiting cases, the analytic dependences are obtained for the pitch of the cholesteric helix deformed by the shear flow. The phase diagrams of the cholesteric–nematic transitions and the pitch of the cholesteric helix are calculated for different values of the magnetic field strength and the angle of orientation, the flow velocity gradient, and the reactive parameter. It is shown that the magnetic field stabilizes the orientation of the director in the shear flow and expands the boundaries of orientability of cholesterics. It has been established that the shear flow shifts the critical magnetic field strength of the transition. It is shown that a sequence of reentrant orientational cholesteric–nematic–cholesteric transitions can be induced by rotating the magnetic field in certain intervals of its strength and shear flow velocity gradients.     

Determining the sum of flexoelectric coefficients in nematic liquid crystals by the capacitance method

A detailed theoretical analysis of determining the sum of flexoelectric coefficients in nematic liquid crystals using the capacitance method is given. In the strong anchoring parallel aligned nematic （PAN） and hybrid aligned nematic （HAN） cells, the dependences of the capacitance on the sum of flexoelectric coefficients and the applied voltage are obtained by numerical simulations, and the distributions of the director and the electric potential for different applied voltages and flexoelectric coefficients are also given. Based on this theoretical analysis, we propose an experimental design for measuring the capacitance of a liquid crystal cell using the improved precision LCR meter E4980A （Agilent）. Through comparing the experimental data with the simulated results, the sum of flexoeletric coefficients can be determined.     

Tunable nanojet-induced mode achieved by coupled core–shell microcylinders with nematic liquid crystals

The tunable nanojet-induced mode achieved by coupled core–shell microcylinders with nematic liquid crystals is reported. The optical transmission properties of touching core–shell microcylinders with nematic liquid crystals are studied by using high resolution finite-difference time-domain simulation. We identify two rotation mechanisms of liquid crystal in terms of the coupling efficiency between neighboring core–shell microcylinders. The nanojet-induced guided modes depend strongly on the directors of liquid crystals. The optical transport can be continuously tuned in the core–shell microcylinder by controlling the directors of liquid crystals. The coupled core–shell microcylinders can be assembled inside hollow structures to build tunable optical waveguides for effective and low-loss guiding of photons.     

Observation of cancellation and second light-induced Fréedericksz transition in nematic liquid crystals

We describe the observation of a new phenomenon: the cancellation of molecular reorientation that has been achieved in nematic liquid crystals acted on by two competing (pulsed) light beams. The effect is unstable: Starting from the cancellation condition, we have observed patterns related to the presence of a nonlinear phase shift in both beams when their intensity was increased simultaneously. We characterize the behavior of the induced phase shift as a function of the impinging power.     

Electrically controlled local Frédericksz transition in a layer of a nematic liquid crystal

A local Frédericksz transition caused by electrically controlled surface anchoring in a nematic liquid crystal has been implemented owing to the displacement of surface-active ions. In the initial case, the nematic is homeotropically aligned by monomolecular layers of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide cations adsorbed on the surface of substrates. One of the substrates in a static electric field becomes free of a cation layer and specifies planar boundary conditions; as a result, a homeoplanar orientation structure is formed. The features of the dynamics of the optical response of the cell under study that are characteristic of the effect under consideration are discussed.     

Temperature dependence of ratio between dielectric anisotropy and order parameter in fluorinated nematic liquid crystals

Temperature dependence of ratio between dielectric anisotropy and order parameter of fluorinated nematic liquid crystal is investigated by using a semi-empirical molecular orbital package that can accurately calculate an angle between molecular dipole moment and long axis. We optimize the molecular conformations with three semi-empirical Hamiltonians AM1, PM3 and PM5, and then make a comparison between computational results and experimental measurements. It is shown that the results obtained from AM1 method are in good agreement with the measurements. The present study offers an applicable method to predict the dielectric properties of liquid crystal material.     

Light scattering by a nematic liquid crystal droplet: Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin approximation

Light scattering by an optically anisotropic liquid crystal (LC) droplet of a nematic in an isotropic polymer matrix is considered in the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin (WKB) approximation. General relations are obtained for elements of the amplitude matrix of light scattering by a droplet of arbitrary shape and for the structure of the director field. Analytic expressions for the amplitude matrices are derived for spherical LC droplets with a uniformly oriented structure of local optical axes for strictly forward and strictly backward scattering. The efficiency factors of extinction and backward scattering for a spherical nonabsorbing LC droplet depending on the LC optical anisotropy, refractive index of the polymer, illumination conditions, and orientation of the optical axis of the droplet are analyzed. Verification of the obtained solutions has been performed.