The synthesis of the chiral non-mesogenic d-seco estrone derivatives and their influence on the phase transitions of cholesteric liquid crystals

The synthesis of new chiral seco-estrone derivatives is presented, as well as their influence on the phase transition of binary mixtures of cholesteryc liquid crystals. The new chiral derivatives do not posses any liquid crystalline phases and were synthesized in several synthetic steps, starting from estrone. We have studied the mixtures of cholesteryl non-anoate (40%) with cholesteryl myristate (40%) and addition of new chiral derivatives 3 4, or 5 (20%). It was concluded that the addition of chiral derivative 3 to the binary mixture stabilizes smectic A and cholesteric phase and shifts the phase transition temperature with respect to pure binary mixture for about 5°C towards lower temperatures. The extension of the temperature range of the cholesteric phase from 5°C to 15°C was established in the case when the derivatives 3 and 4 are added to the binary mixture of cholesteryl nonanoate with cholesteryl myristate. The phase diagrams of investigated compounds are formed on the basis of data obtained by the optical microscopy. Using X-ray diffraction on the crystalline powder of unoriented samples we have determined the molecular parameters: the thickness of smectic and cholesteric layers and average distance between the long axes of neighboring molecules.     

Study on optical characterization of TGB and reentrant smectic-A phases in binary mixture of two liquid crystals

In this work, our investigation is to study the optical and thermal properties of the binary mixture of cholesteric and nematic compounds, namely, cholesteryl nonanoate and p-methoxybenzylidene-p-ethylaniline, which exhibits a very interesting liquid crystalline twisted grain boundary (TGB) phase and reentrant smectic-A phase. The chiral liquid crystalline TGB phases and reentrant smectic-A phases have been observed at different concentrations and at different temperatures. The existence of TGB and reentrant smectic-A phases is confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry and optical microscopic studies. The variation of optical anisotropy has been discussed. The helical pitch of the cholesteric phase has also been discussed.     

Logarithmic divergence of the shear viscosity in the isotropic phase of two cholesterics

The transition from the isotropic liquid to the cholesteric blue phase in cholesteryl oleyl carbonate and cholesteryl oleyl carbonate and cholesteryl oleate is accompanied by an anomaly in the shear viscosity which follows a pseudocritical logarithmic divergence as a function of temperature.     

Novel approach to study liquid crystal phase transitions using Legendre moments

A novel approach is proposed to investigate the phase transitions of cholesteric liquid crystals using the Legendre moments. The textures of cholesteric liquid crystals (cholesteryl butyrate, cholesteryl n-valerate, cholesteryl decanoate, and cholesteryl myristate) are captured as a function of temperature using high-resolution camera attached to the arthroscopic mode of polarizing optical microscope with hot stage. A recurrence formula is used to compute the Legendre moments of the liquid crystal textures based on the Legendre polynomial using MATLAB software. The abrupt change in the values of Legendre moments as a function of temperature gives the phase transitions of liquid crystals. The investigated transition temperatures of cholesteric liquid crystals are compared with other techniques.     

Thermal and Optical Properties of Some Hydrogen-Bonded Liquid Crystal Mixtures

Phase transition properties of the mixtures of hydrogen-bonded nematic liquid crystals (HBLC) 4-hexylbenzoic acid (6BA), 4-(octyloxy)benzoic acid (8OBA), and 4-(decyloxy)benzoic acid (10OBA) have been investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarize optic microscope (POM). The DSC and POM results clearly indicate the existence of smectic and nematic phase transitions in binary mixtures. The phase transition temperature values of 6BA/10OBA mixtures have clearly increased with increasing heating rate. The activation energies were calculated for the phase transitions of 6BA/10OBA liquid crystal (LC) mixture. The optical transmittance of these mixed hydrogen-bonded nematic liquid crystals was investigated in terms of temperature variations through electrooptic methods. The electrooptic experiments indicate that, while low in the nematic phase, the optical transmittance is very high at the nematic-isotropic phase transition. The transmitted light intensity values of 6BA/8OBA mixture are somewhat higher than those of other binary mixtures, 6BA/10OBA and 8OBA/10OBA, a result associated with the different alkyloxy chain lengths.     

Determination of the liquid crystals phase transition temperatures using optical rotation effect

Using optical rotation effect, a sensitive, simple optical analytical system is developed for determining the phase transition temperatures of liquid crystals (LCs). When a monochromatic polarized light passes through LCs sample and analyzer, the light intensity changes with temperature. Especially, during the phase transition process, the intensity varies greatly due to optical rotation effect. The variation of light intensity versus variation of temperature curve shows the phase transition temperatures of LCs clearly. The phase transition temperatures of three cholesteric liquid crystals (ChLCs) and a nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) were detected by this method, and compared with those of the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized light microscope (PLM) methods.     

Piezoelectric effect in liquid crystals

A piezoelectric effect has been observed in a cholesteric liquid crystal layer (an electric field effect type, a mixture of cholesteryl oleyl carbonate, cholesteryl chloride and cholesteryl nonanoate) [1]. The layer, subjected to shear vibration, generates an alternating electric potential of the same frequency as the exciting vibration. In the present paper an extension of these investigations is reported to cases with various mixing ratios and also to one of smectic liquid crystals (lecithin with water). For a cholesteric liquid crystal of a particular mixing ratio, the strength of the electric generation is found to reach as high as 450 mV(p-p) for a vibratory shear displacement of 1 μm(p-p) under a certain molecular orientation preparation. Small electric generation is also observed for the above smectic liquid crystal but not for the nematic liquid crystals (MBBA and EBBA). A simple continuum elasticity model can qualitatively explain the behaviour of this electric potential generation.     

Blue quantum fog: chiral condensation in quantum helimagnets

It is shown that a condensation transition involving a chiral order parameter can occur in itinerant helimagnets, in analogy to the transition between the isotropic phase and the phase known as blue fog or blue phase III in cholesteric liquid crystals. It is proposed that such a transition is the explanation for recent neutron scattering results in MnSi. Predictions are made that will allow for experimental tests of this proposal.     

Microscopic vs. macroscopic origin of the Lehmann effect in cholesteric liquid crystals

In a recent letter (EPL 97, 36006 (2012)), we have shown that the Leslie thermomechanical coupling cannot alone explain the Lehmann effect (namely the rotation of cholesteric droplets when they are subjected to a temperature gradient). This result was obtained by measuring in a compensated cholesteric mixture the “Lehmann coefficient” as a function of temperature both below and at the transition to the isotropic liquid. In this article, we detail these experiments and present new ones performed with other compensated mixtures and a diluted cholesteric mixture. The new results confirm the macroscopic origin of the Lehmann effect, in contrast to the Leslie thermomechanical effect that is clearly of microscopic origin.     

弹性形变对丝状相液晶相变的影响

应用Saupe形式的弹性自由能,研究了简单的扭曲,展曲和弯曲形变对相变的影响.结果表明,弹性形变可以产生从各向同性相至双轴丝状相的一级相变,对螺状相液晶,当系统手征性增加并超过某一临界值时,一级相变可过渡到二级相变. 关键词：     

Polarization-independent refractive index tuning using gold nanoparticle-stabilized blue phase liquid crystals

Polarization-independent refractive index (RI) modulation can be achieved in blue phase (BP) liquid crystals (LCs) by applying an electric field parallel to the direction of light transmission. One of the problems limiting the achievable tuning range is the field-induced phase transition to the cholesteric phase, which is birefringent and chiral. Here we report the RI modulation capabilities of gold nanoparticle-doped BPs I and II, and we show that field-induced BP-cholesteric transition is suppressed in nanoparticle-doped BP II. Because the LC remains optically isotropic even at high applied voltages, a larger RI tuning range can be achieved.     

Costa ribeiro effect in some cholesteryl esters

In this paper we confirm the existence of the thermodielectric effect at phase transitions of some cholesteryl esters (cholesteryl chloride, cholesteryl nonanoate and cholesteryl laurate). Significant sudden variations of the potential difference across the samples were detected at solid crystal → isotropic, isotropic → mesophase phase transitions of these liquid crystals. The variations are due to the formation of thermodielectric electrets by spontaneous polarization. The phase transitions are identified and their temperatures are in agreement with the literature.     

复合周期的介质-液晶光子晶体研究

本文研究了掺入各向同性周期性介质层缺陷的一维复合周期胆甾型液晶光子晶体的禁带特性.发现同一般的胆甾型液晶不同,复合介质-液晶周期结构对左旋偏振入射光和右旋入射光都会出现共同禁带.当各向同性介质层占一个周期的厚度比例越小,左旋偏振光的禁带效应逐渐消失,而右旋偏振光的禁带则逐渐合并变大;且各向同性介质的折射率越大,则两种偏振光的禁带效应越明显,更容易出现共同禁带;通过调整厚度比,可以在可见光范围内出现对应红、绿、蓝色波长的禁带,从而可以用于液晶显示的反射式彩色滤光片. 关键词： 胆甾型液晶 光子晶体 禁带 缺陷     

Induced birefringence in the isotropic phase of cholesteric liquid crystals

The birefringence induced by an acoustic field in the isotropic phase of the cholesteryl myristate cholesteric liquid crystal has been measured. The measurements were performed at sound frequencies of 3.2 and 9.8 MHz in a wide temperature range. Based on the results of the measurements of the induced birefringence, the relaxation time of the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules is estimated.     

液晶胆甾相的形成机制

采用量子理论的方法研究了胆甾相液晶的形成机制.证明了通常采用的手性作用势确实能够导致胆甾相的形成，并给出螺距的表示式. 关键词： 液晶 量子理论 螺距     

制备低密度pmp泡沫中的热性能研究

在聚－4－甲基－1－戊烯（pmp）低密度泡沫的制备中,利用示差扫描量热分析仪对pmp聚合物在均四甲苯／萘所组成的溶剂／非溶剂二元体系中的凝胶化过程进行在线测量,测定了它的凝胶化范围以及凝胶化温度与冷却速率和pmp在溶剂;非溶剂体系中所占比例的关系。利用热重－示差扫描量热系统对所制备的低密度pmp泡沫的热性能进行了分析,得到了泡沫密度变化对热稳定性等的影响。     

Four-wave mixing and optical-field-induced helical structure in liquid crystalline materials

Four-wave mixing with two circularly polarized counter-propagating waves inducing a helical birefringence structure can be used to measure a number of material parameters of a liquid crystalline medium. Application to a cholesteric substance is particularly interesting. A resonant effect is expected when the induced helix has a pitch coinciding with the natural helical pitch of the medium towards the isotropic → cholesteric transition. Field-induced shift in the transition temperature is also expected.     

Viscoelastic modes in chiral liquid crystals

Viscoelastic properties of liquid crystals are very important for applications like display technology. However, there are not many direct techniques to study them. In this review, we describe our studies on the viscoelastic modes of some chiral liquid crystals using dynamic light scattering. We discuss viscoelastic modes corresponding to the C director fluctuations in the chiral smectic C phase and the behaviour of the Goldstone-mode near the chiral smectic C-smectic A phase transition. In cholesteric liquid crystals, we consider the director fluctuations in a wavevector range comparable to the inverse pitch of the cholesteric. Here, the study of the scattered light in the vicinity of the Bragg reflection using a novel geometry will be presented.     

On a reentrant isotropic phase in disc-like liquid crystals

A binary mixture of two disc-like liquid crystals 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, 13-hexa-n-tetradecanoyloxy and 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, 13-hexa (4-n-dodecyloxybenzoyloxy) truxenes exhibits an isotropic phase above and below the temperature existence range of a columnar mesophase.