Electric convection in a nematic liquid crystal in a varying electric field

The emergence of electric convection in a nematic liquid crystal under the action of a varying electric field is analyzed in the 1D approximation. A new mode of external field variation with subharmonic oscillations is proposed. The behavior of several classes of synchronous perturbations and subharmonic oscillations is analyzed; the evolution of the fields of the director and of the volume charge is studied. Parametric instability regions are specified and the critical frequencies of transitions between response modes are determined. Stability maps for a nematic liquid crystal are plotted on the frequency-amplitude plane.     

A liquid crystal thermography calibration with true color image processing

Liquid crystal thermography is a high-resolution, non-intrusive optical technique for full-field temperature measurement. We present the detailed calibration data for the thermochromic liquid crystal （TLC） with a useful range of 41-60 ℃. The calibration is done with true color image processing by using an isothermal calibrator. The hue-temperature curve of the TLC is obtained, and the measurement uncertainty is analyzed. Combined with the image noise reduction technique of a 5×5 median filter, the measurement accuracy of the liquid crystal thermography can be significantly improved by approximately 57.1%.     

An interferometric study of a model of a biomembrane based on liquid crystal

A variation in the thickness of a biomembrane based on liquid crystal is experimentally studied in the presence of external electric field using a low-Q-factor Fabry-Perot interferometer. Variation in the thickness of the membrane is determined with the aid of the interference pattern of the reflected beam with an accuracy of up to 0.1 Å. The nonlinear elasticity of the liquid crystal is determined from the experimental data. Chaotic fluctuations of the membrane are observed at a certain threshold voltage.     

Localized bifurcations and defect instabilities in the convection of a nematic liquid crystal

The stationary and the time-dependent homogeneous ordered states in convection may both become unstable against localized perturbations. Defects are then created and they may contribute to the disorganization of the homogeneous state. We present an experimental study of defects in some homogeneous stationary structures as well as in the traveling-wave states of convection of a nematic liquid crystal. We show that the core of the defects is a germ of the unstable state and it can become unstable under the external stress. Then, either fully homogeneous states with the symmetry of the core, or complex disordered states can develop from the local instability of defects in processes quite similar to displacive transitions in solids. Some of the main features are qualitatively similar to numerical simulations of an appropriate Landau-Ginzburg equation.     

Visualization of turbulence structure in unsteady non-penetrative thermal convection using liquid crystal thermometry and stereo velocimetry

Temperature and velocity fields in unsteady non-penetrative turbulent thermal convection of a horizontal fluid layer are measured in horizontal and vertical planes simultaneously using the combined liquid-crystal thermometry and stereo particle image velocimetry (PIV) with high spatial and temporal resolution. The result shows the formation of convection pattern across the fluid layer, which originates from the spoke structure over the heated surface. The upward fluid motion is generated from the intersection of the bursting lines of the spoke structure, while the downward motion is induced by the low temperature fluid directing toward the center of the spoke structure. Thus, the large-scale convective motion is produced in the fluid layer through the motion of spoke structure. The POD analysis of the temperature and velocity eigenfunctions shows the existence of large-scale motion in the fluid layer, which supports the observed convection pattern near the heated boundary and in the middle of the fluid layer.     

Conjugate convective heat transfer of a crystal with an ambient medium under the conditions of thermal gravitation convection in Czochralski method

Results on conjugate convective heat transfer in a system geometrically similar to the system “crystal-gas-growing vessel shell” of a growing vessel obtained by the Czochralski method are presented. Equations of thermal gravitation convection in Boussinesq approximation are solved by the finite element method in the following variables: temperature, stream function, and vorticity in cylindrical coordinates. Heat transfer from the crystal was studied within the range of Grashof number 100 ≤ Gr ≤ 10⁴ for the fixed configuration of calculation domain. Dependence of the temperature field in the silicon crystal on convection intensity in gas (argon) was examined.     

Effect of coating thickness on the calibration and measurement uncertainty of a wide-band liquid crystal thermography

<正>The liquid crystal thermography is a high-resolution and non-intrusive optical technique for full-field temperature measurement.We present detailed calibration data for a wide-bandwidth thermochromic liquid crystal(TLC) to investigate the effect of the coating thickness on the hue-temperature characteristics and the measurement uncertainty of the TLC.It is found that the coating thickness has appreciable effect on the TLC hue-temperature curve.For TLC coatings with the thickness over 20μm,a thicker TLC coating shows a relatively smaller measurement uncertainty,but the effect of the coating thickness is non-distinctive on the measurement uncertainty.     

Colorimetric characterization of liquid crystal display using an improved two-stage model

An improved two-stage model of colorimetric characterization for liquid crystal display (LCD) was proposed. The model included an S-shape nonlinear function with four coefficients for each channel to fit the Tone reproduction curve (TRC), and a linear transfer matrix with black-level correction. To compare with the simple model (SM), gain-offset-gain (GOG), S-curve and three-one-dimensional look-up tables (3-1D LUTs) models, an identical LCD was characterized and the color differences were calculated and summarized using the set of 7 × 7 × 7 digital-to-analog converter (DAC) triplets as test data. The experimental results showed that the model was outperformed in comparison with the GOG and SM ones, and near to that of the S-curve model and 3-1D LUTs method.     

Real-time quantification of viable bacteria in liquid medium using infrared thermography

Quantifying viable bacteria in liquids is important in environmental, food processing, manufacturing, and medical applications. Since vegetative bacteria generate heat as a result of biochemical reactions associated with cellular functions, thermal sensing techniques, including infrared thermography (IRT), have been used to detect viable cells in biologic samples. We developed a novel method that extends the dynamic range and improves the sensitivity of bacterial quantification by IRT. The approach uses IRT video, thermodynamics laws, and heat transfer mechanisms to directly measure, in real-time, the amount of energy lost as heat from the surface of a liquid sample containing bacteria when the specimen cools to a lower temperature over 2 min. We show that the Energy Content (EC) of liquid media containing as few as 120 colony-forming units (CFU) of Escherichia coli per ml was significantly higher than that of sterile media (P < 0.0001), and that EC and viable counts were strongly positively correlated (r = 0.986) over a range of 120 to approximately 5 × 10⁸ CFU/ml. Our IRT approach is a unique non-contact method that provides real-time bacterial enumeration over a wide dynamic range without the need for sample concentration, modification, or destruction. The approach could be adapted to quantify other living cells in a liquid milieu and has the potential for automation and high throughput.     

基于光纤-胶体晶体的液体折射率传感实验研究

制备了胶体晶体,并利用胶体晶体的光子带隙对折射率传感进行了实验研究。从理论上分析了胶体晶体光子带隙中心波长的变化与折射率的关系。通过设计模具制备了胶体晶体-光纤结构,用扫描电镜对胶体晶体的表面进行了观察,并测量了胶体晶体的光子带隙的位置。结果表明胶体晶体的光子带隙的测试结果与理论分析相一致。设计了实验装置,利用光纤间的耦合对胶体晶体的光子带隙的变化进行了测试和分析。结果表明SiO2胶体晶体光子带隙的中心波长为1445.5nm,且在不同折射率液体环境下,其中心波长发生移动,能够形成新的传感机理。对胶体晶体在液体传感上的应用进行了探索。     

Real-time pseudocolour-encoding using a low-cost liquid crystal television

The capability of utilizing a low-cost LCTV to encode the brightness of an object and the density of a transparency into pseudocolour is discussed and shown in this note.     

Tuning of full band gap in anisotropic photonic crystal slabs using a liquid crystal

We analyze the tunability of full band gap in photonic crystal slabs created by square and triangular lattices of air holes in anisotropic tellurium background, considering that the regions above and below the slab are occupied by SiO₂ and the holes are infiltrated with liquid crystals. Using the supercell method based on plane wave expansion, we study the variation of full band gap by changing the optical axis orientation of liquid crystal. Our results demonstrate the existence and remarkable tunability of full band gap in both square and triangular lattices, largest band gap and tunability being obtained for the triangular lattice.     

直拉法晶体生长过程非稳态流体热流耦合

为了改善复杂对流形态下的晶体生长品质, 提出了一种改进的格子Boltzmann方法研究非稳态熔体流动和传热的耦合性质. 该方法基于不可压缩轴对称D2Q9模型, 构建了包含旋转惯性力和热浮力等外力项的演化关系, 实现了对轴对称旋转流体的速度、温度和旋转角速度的计算与分析. 结果表明, 非稳态熔体中的流、热耦合性质与格拉斯霍夫数和雷诺数的相互作用有关; 通过调节高雷诺数, 可有效抑制熔体中的自然对流, 改善温度分布, 有助于提高单晶的品质. 数值计算结果与实际硅单晶生长试验均证明了所提方法的正确性及有效性.     

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.     

Experimental study of thermodynamics of plastic deformation by infrared thermography

A method is proposed for calculating the entropy of plastic deformation from IR scanning data and for determining the refined thermodynamic parameter (Gibbs free energy) of the system under quasistatic straining. The method is based on the assumption that the specific heat of the material does not depend on the stored defect concentration and elastic strain.     

Mechanical model study of relationship of molecular configuration and multiphase in liquid crystal materials

A mechanical model of liquid crystals (LCs) is applied to study the polymorphism of homologous series of terphenyl compounds. With a semi-experimental molecular orbit method, we calculate the moment of inertia which represents the rotation state to describe the phase transition temperature obtained from experimental data. We propose a novel explanation of the phase sequence or polymorphism of LC materials using the two key parameters, the moment of inertia and critical rotational velocity. The effect of molecular polarity on the appearance of liquid crystalline is also discussed.     

X-ray study of ferroelectric liquid crystal

Measurements of X-ray scattering intensity from a ferroelectric liquid crystal are carefully carried out to clarify the mechanism of the ferroelectric phase transition. The temperature dependences of the scattering intensity and the tilt angle of the molecules in the ferroelectric smectic C phase are discussed on the base of Landau's theory.