Corresponding states of nematic birefringence: an order parameter universality

In this work, experimental birefringence data of several nematic liquid crystals, which share the presence of a nematic–isotropic and a nematic–crystalline phase transition, are used to show that the birefringence presents a universal behaviour which encompasses the entire range of the nematic phase. The meaning and consequences of such behaviour are discussed; as the order parameter is proportional to the birefringence, this result implies that the order parameter has an extended universal profile, similar to a corresponding state law, which is independent of the liquid crystal compound and becomes determined once the temperature interval of the existence of the nematic compounds is obtained.     

Molecular parameters describing intermolecular interactions in the electrooptical Kerr effect

Electrooptical Kerr effect has been studied in binary solutions of a dipolar liquid (-picoline, β-picoline) in a non-dipolar solvent (benzene, p-xylene) and 1,4-dioxane in the full range of concentrations of the dipolar component (0 ≤ f₂ ≤ 1). The experimental Kerr constant K_s of the solutions, refraction index n_s, density ρ_s and the dielectric constant ε_s have been measured and used for the calculation of the molar Kerr constants K_S^M within the Onsager local field model. Analysis of changes in the molar Kerr constants as a function of the solute concentration by fits of theoretical functions to the experimental ones has permitted a determination of the parameters characterizing intermolecular interactions in binary solutions.     

Breakdown of the Landau theory in the vicinity of the nematic-isotropic transition

Very sensitive Cotton-Mouton and Kerr constant measurements have been performed in the isotropic phase of nematic liquid crystals very close to transition.They show systematic deviations from the mean field behaviour, which possibly connects to the appearance of a critical regime.     

Physical characterisation of 4′-butyl-4-heptyl- bicyclohexyl-4-carbonitrile

We report measurements of birefringence, bend elastic constant, principal dielectric constants and conductivities as functions of temperature in the nematic phase of 4′-butyl-4-heptyl-bicyclohexyl-4-carbonitrile (CCN-47). The compound exhibits a small birefringence and a large negative dielectric anisotropy. Surprisingly, it shows a negative conductivity anisotropy, which probably owes its origin to the structural details of the molecules. The orientational order parameters (S) are estimated from both birefringence and dielectric anisotropy, and they agree well in the entire nematic range. The experimental results are compared with those on CCH7, which has a similar core structure but with a longitudinal dipole moment, in place of the transverse one of CCN-47.     

Effect of high electric fields on the nematic to isotropic transition in a material exhibiting large negative dielectric anisotropy

We report the experimental high electric field phase diagram of a nematic liquid crystal which exhibits a large negative dielectric anisotropy. We measure simultaneously the birefringence (Δn) and the dielectric constant (epsilon_⊥) at various applied fields as functions of the local temperature of an aligned sample. We also measure the higher harmonics of the electrical response of the medium. The following experimental results are noted: (i) enhancement of orientational order parameter S in the nematic phase due to both the Kerr effect and quenching of director fluctuations; (ii) enhancement in the paranematic to nematic transition temperature (T_PN) with field; (iii) divergence of the order parameter susceptibility beyond the tricritical point as measured by third harmonic electrical signal; (iv) a small second harmonic electrical signal which also diverges near T_PN, indicating the presence of polarised domains. Our measurements show that ΔT_PN(= T_PN(E)-T_NI(0)) varies linearly with |E| whereas the Landau de Gennes theory predicts a dependence on E². It is argued that the quenching of director fluctuations by the field makes the dominant contribution to all the observations, including the thermodynamics of the transition.     

Cw thermal lens effect in thin layer of nematic liquid crystal

A cw laser induced, thermal lens effect in a thin layer of MBBA nematic liquid crystal was observed. Due to the birefringence both focusing and defocusing were obtained, depending on the polarization. A qualitative discussion of the aberrational effect in this thermal thin lens is given.     

WIN-DAISY: Application to oriented molecules. Analysis and simulation of NEMA-NMR spectra

The¹H-NMR spectra of 3-methyl-3-cyano-cyclopropene and¹⁹F-NMR spectra of bis-trifluoromethyl-mercury have been measured in nematic liquid crystal EBBA and in mixture of EBBA+M MBBA, respectively. The novel program systemWIN-DAISY was used for automated analysis and simulation of NMR spectra, and optimised parameters for dipolar coupling constants extracted.     

Kerr effect and Kerr constant enhancement in vertically aligned deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystals

In this article,we review recently achieved Kerr effect progress in novel liquid crystal(LC) material:vertically aligned deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystal(VADHFLC).With an increasing applied electric field,the induced inplane birefringence of LCs shows quadratic nonlinearity.The theoretical calculations and experimental details are illustrated.With an enhanced Kerr constant to 130 nm/V2,this VADHFLC cell can achieve a 2π modulation by a small efficient electric field with a fast response around 100 μs and thus can be employed in both display and photonics devices.     

Identification of optical nonlinearities of dye-doped nematic and polymer-dispersed liquid crystals using Z-scan technique

This study investigates the nonlinear optical properties of azo-dye-doped nematic and polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (ADDPDLC) films with nano-sized LC droplets using the Z-scan technique, which is a simple but powerful technique for measuring the optical Kerr constants of materials. The results indicate that the optical Kerr constant (n₂) of the azo-dye-doped nematic LC (ADDLC) film is large because of the photoisomerization effect and the thermal effect. Therefore, the optical Kerr constant of this material can be modulated by varying the temperature of the sample and the direction of polarization of incident laser. The range of n₂ modulated is from −5.26 × 10⁻³ to 1.62 × 10⁻³ cm²/W. The optical Kerr constants of ADDPDLC films at various temperatures are also measured. The experimental results reveal that liquid crystals in the ADDPDLC film strengthen the nonlinearity. The n₂ of the ADDPDLC film is maximal at ∼35 °C, because of the decrease in the clearing temperature of the ADDPDLC films. The clearing temperatures of the liquid crystals (E7), and the ADDPDLC film used in this work were found to be 61 °C and 43 °C, respectively.     

Electrohydrodynamic instability in a nematic liquid crystal: Effect of an additional stabilizing AC electroc field on the spatial period of “chevrons”

The spatial period of bend oscillations in nematic N-(p-methoxybenzylidene)-p-n- butylaniline (MBBA) at the threshold of electrohydrodynamic instability increases under the application of an additional high frequency stabilizing field, giving a measurement of the elastic constant K₃₃ = 7.3 ± 1.5 dyne.     

Second virial coefficients for a fluid of dipolar hard ellipsoids

We calculate the two body contributions to the pressure, dielectric constant, depolarized light scattering intensity, electro-optical birefringence (Kerr effect), and other properties, of a fluid whose molecules are hard ellipsoids with embedded central point dipoles. The results are presented for various molecular anisotropies and dipole strengths. The second dielectric and Kerr virial coefficients are found to be particularly sensitive to molecular shape.     

Electric field quenching of thermal fluctuations of orientation in a nematic liquid crystal

Using Rayleigh scattering and light beating spectroscopy, we observe the thermally excited angular fluctuations of the di-rector in the nematic phase of MBBA (p-methoxybenzylidene-p-n-butyl-aniline) in presence of a stabilizing a.c. electric field. Both the intensity and damping time of these fluctuations are found to decrease when increasing the field intensity, allowing the measurement of the bend Frank elastic constant.     

Electro-optical Kerr effect of azo-dye-doped liquid crystals using nulled intensity method

ABSTRACT

The electro-optical Kerr effect and pre-transition behavior have been investigated for different concentration of dimethyl-aminoazobenzene dye-doped nematic liquid crystal by using the nulled intensity method. Measurement results have showed that the molecular reorientation of liquid crystals induced by photoisomerization of azo dyes come about to increase an amount of Kerr constant at low percentages of dye concentration. Additionally, the results of pre-transition temperature which were obtained by extrapolating the invers Kerr constant as a function of temperature have been found to be in good agreement with predictions of the Landau-De Gennes model.     

Nonlinear optical polarization effects in quantum-dot materials

The amplitude and dispersion of the cubic susceptibility-tensor components χ _ijkl ⁽³⁾ (?Ω; Ω, ω, ?ω) and of their combinations responsible for the Kerr and Faraday optical effects, as well as for the self-rotation of the polarization ellipse, are calculated within a simple model of a material with semiconducting spherical quantum dots without the inclusion of the excitonic effects and of processes of higher orders in field. It is shown that the susceptibilities increase smoothly in amplitude below the two-photon absorption threshold while remaining negative. Above the threshold, the susceptibilities exhibit sharp maxima associated with two-photon resonances. The regions with positive and negative real parts of the χ⁽³⁾ tensor components alternate. The magnitude of the induced linear or circular birefringence obtained suggest the possibility of using the nonlinear optical polarization effects in these materials to control light with short, high-intensity light pulses.     

Anisotropy of the turbidity of a nematic liquid crystal

The absorption coefficient of a nematic liquid present an important anisotropy. The measurement of this coefficient in three simple geometries allows the determination of the three Frank elastic constants on the same sample. We give the results obtained for MBBA at room temperature.     

Temperature dependence of the critical magnetic field of the structural transition in MBBA-based ferronematics

We studied the structural transitions in ferronematics based on the thermotropic nematic liquid crystal MBBA (4^′ -methoxybenzylidene-4-n-butylaniline) having a nematic-to-isotropic transition temperature T _N–I?=?48.0^○C and in MBBA-based ferronematics doped with a magnetic suspension consisting of Fe₃O₄ particles (10?nm in diameter) coated with oleic acid as a surfactant. The ferronematic samples were prepared with different volume concentrations of magnetic particles φ?=,1× 10^?4, 2× 10^?4 and 5×10^?4. The temperature dependences of the critical magnetic fields in a bias electric field under strong applied magnetic fields are presented. We calculated the surface density of anchoring energy W at the nematic–magnetic particle boundary. Scaling of the structural transition in the MBBA and MBBA-based ferronematics with the temperature of the nematic-to-isotropic transition was observed.     

Magnetic field effects on the optical properties of an azo-dye doped liquid crystal

Homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystals doped with azo-dye were subjected both to a linear polarized light of a He–Ne laser and to a magnetic field perpendicular to the incident light beam. We found that the emerging light was elliptically polarized when using magnetic field strengths higher than the threshold value for the magnetic Freedericksz transition. The light transmission, the rotatory power (induced by azo-dye) and the ellipticity varied quasiperiodically when increasing magnetic field strength. The number and positions of maxima and minima depend on the cell thicknesses. Changes in the phase difference between the emergent ordinary and extraordinary rays were computed from the experimental data and the magnetic field dependence of the birefringence was determined.     

Measurements of diffusion anisotropies in liquid crystals by use of dyes

The diffusion of a dye impurity in a thin layer of a nematic MBBA oriented by magnetic fields has been investigated by optical and densitometric methods. The experimental results are in quantitative agreement with a Gaussian law for the dye concentration, which allows for a determination of the principal components of the diffusivity tensor.Two sizes of impurity have been studied. The ratio of the diffusion coefficients respectively parallel and normal to the mean molecular axis seems to be independent of the actual shape of the diffusing molecule.     

Influence of barrier effects at interfaces on dynamic scattering of light in a nematic liquid crystal

The intensity of light dynamic scattering by a nematic liquid crystal with negative dielectric anisotropy (ZhK-440) as a function of the constant electric field strength has been studied under different interfacial conditions. It has been shown that potential barriers that arise at the interfaces not only influence the scattering intensity, but may also radically change the form of the dependence; i.e., the curves of optical transmission in the direction of the incident beam may have a minimum under certain field strengths. At higher strengths, the cells become totally transparent again. This anomalous behavior of the transmission curve is associated with the fact that the conductivity of the cells drops below a critical value with growing field strength, as the resistance of the space charge region at the inversely biased junction of the extraction electrode rises. In addition, it has been shown that the high resistance of the cells at low voltages may be attributed not only to a low concentration of impurities in the liquid crystal, but also to a low emissivity of the injecting electrode and a weak electron affinity of the extraction electrode.     

Kerr介质中双光子T-C模型光场的量子特性

研究了存在Kerr介质时，耦合双原子与单模压缩真空场双光子跃迁相互作用系统光场的量子特性，讨论了Kerr介质和原子间偶极-偶极相互作用对光场量子特性的影响. 结果表明：当Kerr效应和偶极-偶极相互作用可以忽略时，光场U2分量的涨落能被周期性地压缩，随着Kerr效应和偶极-偶极相互作用的增强，光场的压缩逐渐变浅，压缩次数减少；Kerr效应和偶极-偶极相互作用的影响使光场的二阶相干度时间演化曲线呈现周期性的崩塌-回复现象，但不论耦合强度如何，光子总是呈现聚束效应. 关键词： Kerr介质 压缩真空场 耦合双原子 光场的量子特性