Download or read book Liquid Crystals In Complex Geometries written by G P Crawford and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1996-04-29 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on the applied and basic aspects of confined liquid crystals, this book provides a current treatise of the subject matter and places it in the broader context of electrooptic applications. The book takes an interdisciplinary approach to the

Download or read book Geometric Methods in the Elastic Theory of Membranes in Liquid Crystal Phases written by Zhong-Can Ou-Yang and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 1999 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains a comprehensive description of the mechanical equilibrium and deformation of membranes as a surface problem in differential geometry. Following the pioneering work by W Helfrich, the fluid membrane is seen as a nematic or smectic ? A liquid crystal film and its elastic energy form is deduced exactly from the curvature elastic theory of the liquid crystals. With surface variation the minimization of the energy at fixed osmotical pressure and surface tension gives a completely new surface equation in geometry that involves potential interest in mathematics. The investigations of the rigorous solution of the equation that have been carried out in recent years by the authors and their co-workers are presented here, among which the torus and the discocyte (the normal shape of the human red blood cell) may attract attention in cell biology. Within the framework of our mathematical model by analogy with cholesteric liquid crystals, an extensive investigation is made of the formation of the helical structures in a tilted chiral lipid bilayer, which has now become a hot topic in the fields of soft matter and biomembranes.

Download or read book Dielectric Properties Of Liquid Crystals written by Zbigniew Galewski and published by . This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction - This book, consisting of 10 chapters, should be treated as a complement that brings the reader up to date with the latest contributions to the rich literature on liquid crystals. A prominent place in this literature is occupied by the dielectric properties which are important in estimation of usefulness of these materials and in understanding the molecular processes determining various mesophases. In the field of dielectrics in general, and in connection with the structure and phase transitions the entries in references [1-14] can be recommended. With respect to general aspects of liquid-crystalline properties and molecular dynamics one can point out the references [15-36]. Most of them contain as well chapters on dielectric properties. In addition there is a number of books and monographs related strictly to the dielectric properties of liquid crystals, in particular references [37-45]. For the readers less familiar with this topic and interested in the basic knowledge of dielectric aspects of liquid crystals one can suggest the reviews [46-48]. Basic difference between properties of isotropic liquid and liquid crystal lies in the existence in the latter case of at least one degree of order. The ordering can be also considered with respect to a crystalline phase. Thus introducing at least one degree of disorder (rotational or translational) causes the occurrence of a mesophase which, however, is not identical with the liquid-crystalline phase. If the mesophase is to be liquid-crystalline, it should possess at least one translational degree of disorder. The disorder connected with further degrees of freedom leads to rich polymorphism. The most characteristic feature of liquid-crystalline phases is a precisely defined degree of disorder of molecules building these phases and their anisotropy which is exhibited in molecular structure and all measurable physical parameters such as polarizability. This is the reason why such phases are also called anisotropic liquids. The insertion into the molecules that form mesophases of fragments either chiral or influencing antagonistically already present fragments (e.g. by replacing one alkyl group by perfluorinated chain) leads to additional interactions which compete with interactions responsible for the stability of liquid-crystalline phases. This causes the frustration phenomena, i.e. the mutual overlapping of interactions frequently responsible for opposite effects. These induced phenomena conduce to unexpected structures (banana-type or columnar-type mesophases) and properties such as helicity, ferroelectricity or antiferroelectricity. Of particular interest seem to be ferroelectric liquid crystals (chiral tilted smectics such as SmC*, SmI* and others) showing collective modes: tilt fluctuations (soft modes) and phase fluctuations (Goldstone mode). Unusual progress observed in the last half-century has occurred due to use of some additional interacting fragments and structural details. Liquid crystalline polymers and metalomesogens present rapidly growing branches of knowledge of liquid crystal. Ferromagnetism and superconductivity of liquid crystals still pose a challenge. In this monograph we present different aspects of dielectric properties of mesogens. Chapter 1 presented by Otowski is dedicated to general problems of the molecular dipole s motion in electric field. Based on the broadband dielectric studies results of a few liquid-crystalline substances, their dielectric behavior is discussed by means of Nordio-Rigatti-Segre theory. The pretransitional anomalies observed in isotropic phase close to the phase transitions by means of dielectric measurements are described by Drozd-Rzoska, Rzoska and Janik in Chapter 2. An extended part of this book is devoted to chiral liquid crystals, the importance of which for applications and expectations for them are continuously increasing. The principles of the dielectric behavior of chiral liquid-crystalline compounds based on general considerations applying for other dipolar systems as well is presented by Hoffmann in Chapter 3. In general considerations based on the example of 12 selected substances showing extremely rich polymorphism Marzec, Mikulko, Wróbel and Haase analyze impressive behaviors of collective modes (Chapter 4). The problem of non-linear dielectric effects constitutes an important part of this book. A general introduction to the non-linear dielectric spectroscopy is contained in Chapter 5 elaborated by Kedziora, who concentrates himself on the isotropic phase, solutions and precritical phenomena. The problem of molecular properties of smectic materials and relaxation in ferroelectric liquid crystals with particular attention paid to electrooptic phenomena are discussed by Kuczynski in Chapter 6. Advantages of electrooptic methods applied to chiral tilted smectic liquid crystals with either ferroelectric or antiferroelectric dipole order are known. However, less popular problem of so called organic glass formers presented by Massalska-Arodz, Sciesinska, Sciesinski, Krawczyk, Inoba and Zielinski in Chapter 7 deserved attentions. Properties of these materials are discussed by using the results of complementary methods such as INS, QENS, adiabatic calorimetry and far-infrared spectra. Chapter 8, presented by Rózanski, is devoted to the dielectric properties of liquid crystals confined in porous matrices or dispersed throughout solid matrices. Such systems seem to be fascinating not only from the point of view of surface interactions but also due to attractive properties of dispersed systems in nanoscale. Of great value is also Chapter 9 by Kocot, Merkel, Sufin, Vij and Mehl describing dendrimeric liquid crystals built of molecules containing siloxane or carbosilazane cores. The problems of dynamics and ordering are discussed in terms of IR and dielectric spectroscopy results. Chapter 10, written by Urban, is committed to the relaxation processes in calamitic liquid crystals with emphasis on pressure and temperature effects. Finally let us direct readers attention to general references relating to the new liquid crystalline compounds [49] and IUPAC classification of these systems [50]. 1. Boettcher C. J. F., van Belle O.C., Bordewijk P. and Rip A., 1973, Theory of Electric Polarization, Vol.I: Dielectrics in Static Fields, 2nd revised edition, Elsevier Science Ltd, Amsterdam. 2. Boettcher C.J.F. and Bordewijk, 1978, Theory of Electric Polarization, Vol.II. Dielectrics in Time-dependent Fields, 2nd revised edition, Elsevier Science Ltd, Amsterdam. 3. Hill N., Vaughan W.E., Price A.H. and Davies M., 1969, Dielectric Properties and Molecular Behaviour, van Nostrand, London. 4. Froehlich H., 1958, Theory of Dielectrics, Oxford University Press, London. 5. von Hippel A.R., 1995, Dielectric Materials and Applications, Artech House Publishers. 6. Davies M., 1965, Some Electrical and Optical Aspects of Molecular Behaviour, Pergamon Press, Oxford. 7. Scaife B.K.P., 1998, Principle of Dielectrics, Revised edition, Oxford University Press, Clarendon, Oxford. 8. Riande E. and Diaz-Calleja R., 2004, Electrical Properties of Polymers, Marcel Dekker, NY. 9. Jonscher A.K., 1996, Universal Relaxation Law, Chelsea Dielectric Press Ltd, London. 10. Grigas J., 1996, Microwave Dielectric Spectroscopy of Ferroelectrics and Related Materials, Series: Ferroelectricity and Related Phenomena, Volume 9, Gordon and Breach Science Publishers, Philadelphia. 11. Runt J.P. and Fitzgerald J.J.(Eds.), 1997, Dielectric Spectroscopy of Polymeric Materials, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC. 12. Havriliak S. and Havriliak S.J., 1996, Dielectric and Mechanical Relaxation in Materials, Hanser Verlag, München. 13. Gaiduk V.I. and McConnel J.R., 1999, Dielectric Relaxation and Dynamics of Polar Molecules, World Scientific Pub. Co.Inc., Singapore. 14. Kremer F. and Schönhals A. (Eds) 2002, Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy, Springer, NY. 15. Demus D., Goodby J., Gray G.W., Spiess H.W. and Vill V. (Eds.), 1998, Handbook of Liquid Crystals, 4-Volume Set, Wiley-VCH, Veinheim. 16. Demus D., Goodby J., Gray G.W., Spiess H.W. and Vill V (Eds.), 1999, Physical Properties of Liquid Crystals, Wiley-VCH, Veinheim. 17. Stegemeyer H. (Ed.), 1994, Liquid Crystals, Steinkopff, Darmstadt and Springer, NY. 18. Buka A. (Ed.), 1993, Modern Topics in Liquid Crystals. From Neutron Scattering to Ferroelectricity, World Scientific, Singapore. 19. Dierking I., 2003. Texture of Liquid Crystals, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. 20. Luckhurst G.R. and Gray G.W. (Eds.), 1979, The Molecular Physics of Liquid Crystals, Academic Press, London. 21. de Gennes P.G. and Prost J., 1993, The Physics of Liquid Crystals, 2nd edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford. 22. Gray G.W. and Goodby J.W., 1984, Smectic Liquid Crystals. Textures and Structures, Leonard Hill, Glasgow. 23. Martellucci S. and Chester A.N. (Eds.), 1992, Phase Transitions in Liquid Crystals, NATO ASI Series, Vol.B290, Plenum Press, NY. 24. Luckhurst G.R. and Veracini C.A. (Eds.), 1994. The Molecular Dynamics of Liquid Crystals, NATO ASI Series, Vol.C431, Kluwer, Dordrecht. 25. Priestley E.B., Wojtowicz P.J. and Sheng P. (Eds.), 1975, Introduction to Liquid Crystals, Plenum Press, NY. 26. Lagerwall S.T., 1999, Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Liquid Crystals, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. 27. Baus M., Rull L.F. and Ryckaert J.P. (Eds.), 1995, Observation, Prediction and Simulation of Phase Traansitions in Complex Fluids, Kluwer, Dordrecht. 28. Anisimov M.A., 1991, Critical Phenomena in Liquids and Liquid Crystals, Gordon & Breach, Philadelphia 29. Vertogen G. and de Jeu W.H., 1986, Thermotropic Liquid Crystals, Fundamentals, Springer, Berlin 30. de Jeu W.H., 1980, Physical Properties of Liquid Crystalline Materials, Gordon & Breach, NY 31. Helfrich W. and Heppke G., (Eds.), 1980, Liquid Crystals of One and Two Dimensional Order, Springer, Berlin. 32. Goodby J.W., Blinc R., Clark N.A., Lagerwall S.T., Osipov M.A., Pikin S.A., Sakurai T., Yoshino K. and }eka B., 1991, Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals. Principles, Properties and Applications, Series: Ferroelectricity and Related Phenomena, Volume 7. Gordon and Breach, Philadelphia. 33. Pikin S.A., 1991, Structural Transformations in Liquid Crystals, Gordon and Breach, NY. 34. Haberlandt R., Michel D., Poppel A. and Stannarius R., 2005, Molecules in interaction with surfaces and interfaces, Springer NY. 35. Crawford G.P. and }umer S., (Eds), Liquid Crystals in Complex Geometries, 1996, Taylor & Francis, London. 36. Muaevic I., Blinc R. and }eka B., 2000, The Physics of Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Liquid Crystals, World Scientific, Singapore. 37. Haase W. and Wróbel S. (Eds.), 2003, Relaxation Phenomena. Liquid Crystals, Magnetic Systems, Polymers, High-TC Superconductors, Metallic Glasses., Springer, NY. 38. Kresse H., 1983, in: Advances in Liquid Crystals, Vol.6, Brown G.H. (ed.), Academic Press, NY. 39. Coffey W.T. and Kalmykov Y.P. 2000, Adv.Chem.Phys. 111, 487. 40. de Jeu W.H., 1978, in: Solid State Physics, Supplement 14. Liebert L. (ed.), Academic Press. 41. Rzoska S.J. and Zhelezny V.P., (Eds), 2004, Nonlinear Dielectric Phenomena in Complex Liquids, Kluwer, Dordrecht. 42. Urban S. and Wuerflinger A., 1979, Adv.Chem.Phys., 98, 143. 43. Kresse H., 1982, Fortschrifte der Physik, 80, 507. 44. Urban S., 2001, in: Physical Properties of Liquid Crystals: Nematics, Dunmur D., Fukuda A. and Luckhurst G. (Eds.), Inspec, London, p.267. 45. Blinov L.M. and Chigrinov V.G., 1994, Electrooptic Effects in Liquid Crystal Materials, Springer, NY. 46. Meier G. and Saupe A., 1966, in: Liquid Crystals, Brown G.H., Dines G.J. and Labes M.M. (Eds.), Gordon and Breach, Philadelphia. 47. Kresse H., 1998, in: Handbook of Liquid Crystals, Demus D., Goodby J., Gray G.W., Spiess H.W. and Vill V. (Eds.), Vol.2, Wiley-VCH, Veinheim. 48. Dunmur D and Toriyama K., 1998, in: Handbook of Liquid Crystals, Demus D., Goodby J., Gray G.W., Spiess H.W. and Vill V. (Eds.), Vol. 1, Wiley-VCH, Veinheim. 49. Vill V., 2006, LiqCryst 4.6. Data Base, Fujitsu. 50. Byron M. et al. 2001, Pure Appl.Chem., 73, 845.

Download or read book Liquid Crystals In The Nineties And Beyond written by Satyen Kumar and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 1996-01-10 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of 13 articles, written by experts, on different aspects of the physics and applications of liquid crystals. In addition to giving self-contained review articles with good bibliography, the authors have discussed the anticipated or highly important and desirable breakthroughs in the near future in their respective fields. The book should provide readers with a good starting point, insight, and an indicator of what current important problems are. Good researchers should benefit in fine tuning their efforts to test the ideas put forward by the authors.

Download or read book Liquid Crystal Elastomers written by Mark Warner and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007-04-05 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text is a primer for liquid crystals, polymers, rubber and elasticity. It is directed at physicists, chemists, material scientists, engineers and applied mathematicians at the graduate student level and beyond.

Download or read book Liquid Crystals written by Patrick Oswald and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-10-03 with total page 618 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These volumes are a result of the personal research and graduate lectures given by the authors at the ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon and the University of Paris VII, respectively. Featuring an easy-to-follow, accessible style, each volume describes important concepts and physical properties using classroom-friendly experiments, many of which the

Download or read book Optics and Nonlinear Optics of Liquid Crystals written by Iam-Choon Khoo and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 1993 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a monograph/text devoted to a detailed treatment of the optical, electro-optical and nonlinear optical properties of all the mesophases of liquid crystals and related processes, phenomena and application principles. Quantitative data on material and optical parameters spanning the ultraviolet, visible, infrared as well as the microwave regimes are presented along with detailed theoretical treatments of basic liquid crystal physics, material properties and nonlinear optics.Starting with a discussion on the basic building blocks of liquid crystalline molecules, the authors proceed to present in a pedagogical manner current theories, experiments, and applications of these unique and important optical properties of liquid crystals. Numerous tables of hard-to-find liquid crystalline parameters, a self-contained chapter on general nonlinear optics, and comprehensive literature review are also included.

Download or read book Structure and Properties of Liquid Crystals written by Lev M. Blinov and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-10-26 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book by Lev M. Blinov is ideal to guide researchers from their very first encounter with liquid crystals to the level where they can perform independent experiments on liquid crystals with a thorough understanding of their behaviour also in relation to the theoretical framework. Liquid crystals can be found everywhere around us. They are used in virtually every display device, whether it is for domestic appliances of for specialized technological instruments. Their finely tunable optical properties make them suitable also for thermo-sensing and laser technologies. There are many monographs written by prominent scholars on the subject of liquid crystals. The majority of them presents the subject in great depth, sometimes focusing on a particular research aspect, and in general they require a significant level of prior knowledge. In contrast, this books aims at an audience of advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics, chemistry and materials science. The book consists of three parts: the first part, on structure, starts from the fundamental principles underlying the structure of liquid crystals, their rich phase behaviour and the methods used to study them; the second part, on physical properties, emphasizes the influence of anisotropy on all aspects of liquid crystals behaviour; the third, focuses on electro-optics, the most important properties from the applications standpoint. This part covers only the main effects and illustrates the underlying principles in greater detail. Professor Lev M. Blinov has had a long carrier as an experimentalist. He made major contributions in the field of ferroelectric mesophases. In 1985 he received the USSR state prize for investigations of electro-optical effects in liquid crystals for spatial light modulators. In 1999 he was awarded the Frederiks medal of the Soviet Liquid Crystal Society and in 2000 he was honoured with the G. Gray silver medal of the British Liquid Crystal Society. He has held many visiting academic positions in universities and laboratories across Europe and in Japan.

Download or read book The Physics of Liquid Crystals written by P. G. de Gennes and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition of the classic text incorporates the many advances in knowledge about liquid crystals that have taken place since its initial publication in 1974. Entirely new chapters describe the types and properties of liquid crystals in terms of both recently discovered phases and current insight into the nature of local order and isotropic-to-nematic transition. There is an extensive discussion of the symmetrical, macroscopic, dynamic, and defective properties of smectics and columnar phases, with emphasis on order-of-magnitude considerations, all illustrated with numerous descriptions of experimental arrangements. The final chapter is devoted to phase transitions in smectics, including the celebrated analogy between smectic A and superconductors. This new version's topicality and breadth of coverage will ensure that it remains an indispensable guide for researchers and graduate students in mechanics and engineering, and in chemical, solid state, and statistical physics.

Download or read book Introduction to Liquid Crystals written by E. Priestly and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The existence of liquid crystals has been known for nearly a centu ry; yet it is only in the last ten years that their unique optical, electri cal, electro-optic, and thermal properties have been exploited to any significant extent in such technological applications as digital d~ plays and thermography. Digital watches equipped with liquid-crys tal displays (LCD's) have recently made their debut in the electronic watch market, and the large-scale use of LCD's in a variety of other applications requiring reliable, low-power digital displays is immi nent. There is good reason to believe that liquid crystals will be the first electro-optic materials to find widespread commercial use. Apart from applications, liquid crystals are unique among the phases of matter. Lurking beneath their garish display of color and texture is a great complexity of physical and chemical interaction that is only now beginning to unfold in the face of a decade-old resurgence in all aspects of liquid~rystal research. RCA Laboratories has participated in this resurgence from its beginning in the early 1960's and at present maintains active liquid-crystal programs both in basic re search and in device engineering. In view of the widespread interest in liquid crystals at RCA Labo ratories, an in-house weekly seminar devoted to the subject of liquid crystals was organized in the fall of 1973. The resulting lectures were subsequently published in three issues of the RCA Review and, with the incorporation of much additional material, eventually grew into the present volume.

Download or read book Bicontinuous Liquid Crystals written by Mathew L. Lynch and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2005-05-16 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the development of diverse analytical chemistry techniques, the discovery of rich and numerous properties pertaining to bicontinuous liquid crystal structures has yielded beneficial applications in medicine, consumer products, materials science, and biotechnology. Presenting contributions from 24 experts worldwide, Bicontinuous Liquid Crystals

Download or read book Nonlinear Geometries in Liquid Crystals and Liquid Crystalline Polymers written by Theo Dingemans and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Liquid Crystals written by Sergey V. Pasechnik and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-11-23 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Covering numerous practical applications as yet not covered in any single source of information, this monograph discusses the importance of viscous and elastic properties for applications in both display and non-display technologies. The very well-known authors are major players in this field of research and pay special attention here to the use of liquid crystals in fiber optic devices as applied in telecommunication circuits.

Download or read book Bent Shaped Liquid Crystals written by Hideo Takezoe and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2017-07-20 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bent-Shaped Liquid Crystals: Structures and Physical Properties provides insight into the latest developments in the research on liquid crystals formed by bent-shaped mesogens. After a historical introduction, the expert authors discuss different kinds of mesophase structures formed by bent-shaped molecules. This book devotes the majority of its pages to physical properties such as polar switching, optics and non-linear optics, and behavior in restricted geometries. However, as chemistry is often highly relevant to the emergence of new phases, particularly with reflection symmetry breaking, it also involves a broad spectrum of interesting chemistry viewpoints.

Download or read book An Introduction to Liquid Crystals written by Gregory A DiLisi and published by Morgan & Claypool Publishers. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Practically every display technology in use today relies on the flat, energy-efficient construction made possible by liquid crystals. These displays provide visually-crisp, vibrantly-colored images that a short time ago were thought only possible in science fiction. Liquid crystals are known mainly for their use in display technologies, but they also provide many diverse and useful applications: adaptive optics, electro-optical devices, films, lasers, photovoltaics, privacy windows, skin cleansers and soaps, and thermometers. The striking images of liquid crystals changing color under polarized lighting conditions are even on display in many museums and art galleries - true examples of 'science meeting art'. Although liquid crystals provide us with visually stunning displays, fascinating applications, and are a rich and fruitful source of interdisciplinary research, their full potential may yet remain untapped.

Download or read book Fundamentals of Liquid Crystal Devices written by Deng-Ke Yang and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liquid Crystal Devices are crucial and ubiquitous components of an ever-increasing number of technologies. They are used in everything from cellular phones, eBook readers, GPS devices, computer monitors and automotive displays to projectors and TVs, to name but a few. This second edition continues to serve as an introductory guide to the fundamental properties of liquid crystals and their technical application, while explicating the recent advancements within LCD technology. This edition includes important new chapters on blue-phase display technology, advancements in LCD research significantly contributed to by the authors themselves. This title is of particular interest to engineers and researchers involved in display technology and graduate students involved in display technology research. Key features: Updated throughout to reflect the latest technical state-of-the-art in LCD research and development, including new chapters and material on topics such as the properties of blue-phase liquid crystal displays and 3D liquid crystal displays; Explains the link between the fundamental scientific principles behind liquid crystal technology and their application to photonic devices and displays, providing a thorough understanding of the physics, optics, electro-optics and material aspects of Liquid Crystal Devices; Revised material reflecting developments in LCD technology, including updates on optical modelling methods, transmissive LCDs and tunable liquid crystal photonic devices; Chapters conclude with detailed homework problems to further cement an understanding of the topic.

Download or read book Introduction to Liquid Crystals written by Peter J. Collings and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2017-09-06 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text relies on only introductory level physics and chemistry as the foundation for understanding liquid crystal science. Liquid crystals combine the material properties of solids with the flow properties of fluids. As such they have provided the foundation for a revolution in low- power, flat-panel display technology LCDs. In this book, the essential elements of liquid crystal science are introduced and explained from the perspectives of both the chemist and the physicist.; The text begins with an historical account of the discovery of liquid crystals and continues with a description of how different phases are generated and how different molecular architectures affect liquid crystalline properties. The rest of the book is concerned with understanding and explaining the properties of the various types of liquid crystals, and in the final part of the book, the technology of LCDs is discussed and illustrated.