Liquid Crystals

The latest edition of the leading resource on the properties and applications of liquid crystals

In the newly revised Third Edition of Liquid Crystals, Professor Iam Choon Khoo delivers a comprehensive treatment of the fundamentals and applied aspects of optical physics, light scattering, electro-optics, and non-linear optics of liquid crystals. The book's opening chapters include coverage of the foundational physics and optical properties of liquid crystals and lead to more advanced content on the display, photonics and nonlinear optics applications of liquid crystals.

New topics, including photonic crystals, metamaterials, ultrafast nonlinear optics, and fabrication methods for massive cholesteric and blue phase liquid crystals are discussed at length. Analytical methods and experimental observations of nonlinear light propagation through liquid crystalline and anisotropic materials and devices are also discussed.

Liquid Crystals offers an insightful and unique treatment of the nonlinear optics of liquid crystals. New and expanded sections round out this new edition and add to the most up-to-date resource on this topic available today. The book also includes:

• A thorough introduction to liquid crystals, including their molecular structures, chemical compositions, order parameter, phase transition, and free energies

• Practical discussions of nematic, cholesteric, smectic, and ferroelectric liquid crystals, and explorations of linear and nonlinear light scattering in these phases.

• A detailed quantum mechanical treatment of the linear and nonlinear electronic optical response of liquid crystal molecules to optical fields.

• A self-contained discussion of the fundamentals of nonlinear optics/photonics and comprehensive review of all liquid crystalline materials-based nonlinear optical processes and applications.

The latest edition of Liquid Crystals is an indispensable resource for graduate students, professors, research scientists and engineers in industrial or government laboratories. It's also an ideal reference for anyone seeking a one-stop textbook with complete coverage of the optical, electro-optical, and non-linear optical properties and processes of liquid crystals.

Autorentext

IAM-CHOON KHOO, PhD, is the William E. Leonhard Professor of Electrical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, USA. He is a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, UK Institute of Physics and The Electromagnetic Academy.

Inhalt

LIQUID CRYSTALS [3rd Edition] I. C. Khoo

PREFACE

1. INTRODUCTION TO LIQUID CRYSTALS

1.1. Molecular Structures and Chemical Compositions

1.2. Optical properties

1.2.1. Electronic Optical Transitions and Ultraviolet Absorption

1.2.2. Visible and Infrared Absorption; Terahertz, Microwave

1.3. Lyotropic, Polymeric, and Thermotropic Liquid Crystals

1.3.1. Lyotropic Liquid Crystals

1.3.2. Polymeric Liquid Crystals

1.3.3. Thermotropic Liquid Crystals: Smectic, Nematic, Cholesteric, and Blue-Phase Liquid Crystals

1.3.4 Functionalized and Discotic Liquid Crystals

1.4. Mixtures, Polymer-Dispersed and Dye-doped Liquid Crystals

1.4.1. Mixtures

1.4.2. Dye-Doped Liquid Crystals

1.4.3. Polymer-Dispersed and polymer-stabilized Liquid Crystals

1.5. Liquid Crystal Cells Fabrication

1.5.1. Nematic LC cells assembly

1.5.2. Cholesteric Liquid crystal Cell Assembly

1.5.3 Blue-phase liquid crystal cell assembly

1.5.4. Photosensitive and Tunable Optical Waveguide, Photonic Crystals and Metamaterial Nanostructures

1.5.5. Isotropic Liquid Crystal Cored Fiber Array

References

2. ORDER PARAMETER, PHASE TRANSITION, AND FREE ENERGIES

2.1. Basic Concepts

2.1.1. Introduction

2.1.2. Scalar and Tensor Order Parameter

2.1.3. Long- and Short-Range Order

2.2. Molecular Interactions and Phase Transitions

2.3. Molecular Theories and Results for the Liquid Crystalline Phase

2.3.1. Maier-Saupe Theory: Order Parameter Near Tc

2.3.2. Nonequilibrium and Dynamical l Dependence of the Order Parameter

2.4. Isotropic Phase of Liquid Crystals

2.4.1. Free Energy and Phase Transition

2.4.2. Free Energy in the Presence of an Applied Field

References

3. NEMATIC LIQUID CRYSTALS

3.1. Introduction

3.2. Elastic Continuum Theory

3.2.1. The Vector Field: Direct Axis

3.2.2. Elastic Constants, Free Energies and Molecular Fields

3.3. Dielectric Constants at low frequency

3.3.1. DC and Low-Frequency Dielectric Permittivities, Conductivities, and Magnetic Susceptibility

3.3.2. Free Energy and Torques by Electric and Magnetic Fields

3.4. Optical Dielectric Constants and Refractive Indices

3.4.1. Linear Susceptibility and Local Field Effect

3.4.2. Equilibrium Temperature and Order Parameter Dependence of Refractive Indices

3.5. Flows and Hydrodynamics

3.5.1. Hydrodynamics of Ordinary Isotropic Fluids

3.5.2. General Stress Tensor for Nematic Liquid Crystals

3.5.3. Flows with Fixed Director Axis Orientation

3.5.4. Flow with Direct Axis Reorientation

3.6. Field-Induced Director Axis Reorientation Effects

3.6.1. Field-Induced Reorientation without Flow Coupling Freedericksz Transition

3.6.2. Reorientation with Flow Coupling

References

4. CHOLESTERIC (including Blue-Phase), SMECTIC, AND FERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTALS

4.1. Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

4.1.1. Free Energies

4.1.2. Field-Induced Effects and Dynamics

4.1.3. Twist and Conic Mode Relaxation Times

4.2. Optical Properties of Cholesterics

4.2.1. Bragg Regime (Optical Wavelength » Pitch)

4.2.2. General Optical Propagation and Reflection: Normal Incidence 4.2.3 Cholesteric Liquid Cry...