Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystals: Concepts and Physical Properties Illustrated by Experiments

Liquid crystals allow us to perform experiments that provide insight into fundamental problems of modern physics, such as phase transitions, frustration, elasticity, hydrodynamics, defects, growth phenomena, and optics (linear and non linear). This excellent volume meets the need for an up-to-date text on liquid crystals.Nematic and Cholesteric Liq

Table of Contents:
Foreword Preface to the English edition Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystals PART A: OVERVIEW Some History Georges Friedel and Liquid Crystals The Discovery of Birefringence in Fluid Biological Substances by Buffon, Virchow, and Mettenheimer: Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Observation of the Surprising Behavior of Cholesteryl Esters by Planer and Reinitzer: Thermotropic Liquid Crystals Fliessende Kristalle or "The Flowing Crystals" of Otto Lehmann Modern Classification of Liquid Crystals The Terminology Introduced by Georges Friedel Modern Definition of Mesophases; Broken Symmetries; Short- and Long-Distance Order Classification of Smectic Phases Classification of Columnar Phases Chiral Smectic Phases Mesogenic anatomy Thermotropic Liquid Crystals Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Liquid Crystal Diblock Copolymers Colloidal Liquid Crystals PART B: MESOPHASES WITH AN ORIENTATIONAL ORDER Structure and Dielectric Properties of the Nematic Phase Quadrupolar Order Parameter The Uniaxial Nematic-Isotropic Liquid Phase Transition The Uniaxial Nematic-Biaxial Nematic Phase Transition Low-Frequency Dielectric Properties Optical Properties Nematoelasticity: Frederiks Transition and Light Scattering Grupp Experiment Frank-Oseen Free Energy Free Energy Minimization: Molecular Field and Elastic Torques Interpretation of the Grupp Experiment Magnetic Field Action Action of an Electric Field: Displays Elastic Light Scattering and the Determination of the Frank Constants Nonlinear Optics Appendix 1: Calculating the Scattering Cross-Section Appendix 2: Free Energy Expression in the Fourier Space Nematodynamics and Flow Instabilities Preliminary Observations Illustrating Some Fundamental Differences Between a Nematic and an Ordinary Liquid Equations of the Linear Nematodynamics Laminary Couette and Poiseuille Flows Laminary Flows and Their Stability Convective Instabilities of Electrohydrodynamic Origin Thermal Instabilities Appendix 1: "Derivation Under the Integral" Theorem Appendix 2: Rotational Identity Appendix 3: Calculation of the Irreversible Entropy Production Appendix 4: Energy Dissipation and Constitutive Laws in the Formalism of Leslie-Ericksen-Parodi Appendix 5: The Rayleigh-Benard Instability in Isotropic Fluids Defects and Textures in Nematics Polarizing Microscope Observations The Volterra-de Gennes-Friedel process Energy of a Wedge Planar Line in Isotropic Elasticity Continuous Core Model: Landau-Ginzburg-de Gennes Free Energy Interaction Energy Between Two Parallel Wedge Lines Dynamics of a Planar Wedge Line: Calculating the Friction Force Wedge line Stability: Escape in the Third Dimension Bloch and Ising Walls Induced by the Frederiks Instability Anchoring and Anchoring Transitions of Nematics on Solid Surfaces Precursors On the Notion of Interface Interface Symmetry and Classification of the Different Types of Anchoring Wetting and Anchoring Selection Anchoring Transitions Measuring the Anchoring Energy in the Homeotropic Case The nematic-isotropic liquid interface:static properties and directional growth instabilities. Anchoring Angle, Surface Tension, and Width of the Nematic-Isotropic Interface Landau-Ginzburg-de Gennes Theory Instabilities in Confined Geometry Elastic Correction to the Gibbs-Thomson Relation Directional Growth of the Nematic-Isotropic Liquid Front Cholesterics: the First Example of a Frustrated Mesophase Cholesteric Frustration Cholesteric Order Parameter and the Cholesteric-Isotropic Liquid Phase Transition Optical Properties of the Cholesteric Phase Defects and Textures of the Cholesteric Phase Unwinding Transition Cholesteric Hydrodynamics Blue Phases: a Second Example of a Frustrated Mesophase Experimental Evidence for the Cubic Symmetry of Blue Phases I and II Uniaxial Models for the Blue Phases: Disclination Lattices Biaxial Model of the Blue Phases by Grebel, Hornreich, and Shtrikman Landau Theory of the Blue Phases by Grebel, Hornreich, and Shtrikman Experiments BPIII or Blue Fog Overview of Growth Phenomena and _the Mullins-Sekerka Instability Gibbs-Thomson Relation and the Phase Diagram of a Diluted Binary Mixture The Minimal Model Stationary Plane Front Plane Front in the Diffusive Regime (GBPG