Excluded Volume and Electrostatic Interactions in Liquid Crystals

本研究涉及液晶（LCs）分子间力的表征和定量。最终目标是了解液晶的分子结构特征，以便合理设计针对特定应用（高对比度，快速开关，高自发极化等）优化的新介质。这是通过精心构建的实验和实验结果的相关建模来实现的，目的是根据取向势推导出LCs中分子有序的一般公式。对取向势的了解使人们能够构建分子的取向分布，从而计算分子的阶张量，并计算和关联介质与分子结构的热力学性质。该项目涉及液晶（lc）分子特性的测量，以便改进的lc可以用于新的显示应用，如高清电视。这是通过研究在LC溶剂中溶解的选定溶质的行为来实现的，以便阐明导致这些不寻常流体的电光响应的不同种类的分子间相互作用的重要性。目标是增加对液晶重要物理和技术显著特征（例如，双折射，自发电极化）的分子起源的理解，为LC显示器设计更灵敏和更高对比度的材料。

9412701 Samulski This research is concerned with characterization and quantification of intermolecular forces in liquid crystals (LCs). The ultimate goal is to understand the properties of liquid crystals in terms of their molecular structural features to allow rational designs for new mesogens optimized for specific applications (high contrast ratios, rapid switching, high spontaneous polarization, etc.). This is achieved through carefully constructed experiments and associated modeling of the experimental findings with the intention of deriving a general formulation of molecular ordering in LCs in terms of an orientational potential. Knowledge of orientational potentials allows one to construct the molecular orientation distribution and thereby calculate a molecule's order tensor, and compute and correlate thermodynamic properties of mesogens with molecular structure. %%% This project is concerned with the measurement of molecular properties in liquid crystals (LCs) so that improved LCs can be engineered for new display applications such as high definition TV. This is achieved by studying the behavior of selected solutes dissolved in LC solvents in order to clarify the importance of the different kinds of intermolecular interactions that contribute to the electro optic responses of these unusual fluids. The goal is an increased understanding of the molecular origins of important physical and technologically significant characteristics of liquid crystals (e.g., birefringence, spontaneous electric polarization) with the ulterior motive of designing more responsive and higher contrast materials for LC displays.