Download Free An Introduction To Liquid Crystals Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online An Introduction To Liquid Crystals and write the review.

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.
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.
Devices based on liquid crystals have become the mainstay of display technology used in mobile devices, vehicles, computer systems, and almost any other opportunity for information display imaginable. The aim of this book is to provide the optics community a liquid crystals primer that focuses on the optical components made from these fascinating materials. The book provides a functional overview of liquid crystal devices, their history, and their applications so that readers are prepared for more advanced texts and can continue to grow their abilities in this field. While it is not meant to be a complete mathematical treatise on the basics and applications of liquid crystals, the book does fill in some of the technical gaps, in particular in the area of adaptive optics applications.
The fundamental science and latest applications of liquid crystal technologies An excellent professional reference and superior upper-level student text, Liquid Crystals, Second Edition is a comprehensive treatment of all the basic principles underlying the unique physical and optical properties of liquid crystals. Written by an internationally known pioneer in the nonlinear optics of liquid crystals, the book also provides a unique, in-depth discussion of the mechanisms and theoretical principles behind all major nonlinear optical phenomena occurring in liquid crystals. Fully revised and updated with the latest developments, this Second Edition covers: Basic physics and optical properties of liquid crystals Nematics, as well as other mesophases such as smectics, ferroelectrics, and cholesterics Fundamentals of liquid crystals for electro-optics, and display and non-display related applications Various theoretical and computational techniques used in describing optical propagation through liquid crystals and anisotropic materials Nonlinear optics of liquid crystals, including updated literature reviews and fundamental discussions Structured to follow a natural sequence of instruction, from basic physics to the latest specialized optical, electro-optical, and nonlinear applications, Liquid Crystals is a textbook that grounds students in the fundamentals before introducing them to the most current discoveries in the field. Written in a clear, reader-friendly style, it features numerous figures, tables, and illustrations, including important and hard-to-find device and material parameters. Invaluable to students, researchers, and those working with liquid crystal applications in various industries, Liquid Crystals, Second Edition is the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource available.
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.
While it is responsible for today’s abundance of flat screens—on televisions, computers, and mobile devices—most of us have only heard of it in the ubiquitous acronym, LCD, with little thought as to exactly what it is: liquid crystal. In this book, Esther Leslie enlightens us, offering an accessible and fascinating look at—not a substance, not a technology—but a wholly different phase of matter. As she explains, liquid crystal is a curious material phase that organizes a substance’s molecules in a crystalline form yet allows them to move fluidly like water. Observed since the nineteenth century, this phase has been a deep curiosity to science and, in more recent times, the key to a new era of media technology. In between that time, as Leslie shows, it has figured in cultural forms from Romantic landscape painting to snow globes, from mountaineering to eco-disasters, and from touchscreen devices to DNA. Expertly written but accessible, Liquid Crystals recounts the unheralded but hugely significant emergence of this unique form of matter.
The book begins with a description of the liquid crystal phase emphasizing its relationship to the other three well-known phases of matter. The types of molecules that form liquid crystal phases and the different liquid crystal phases are then discussed. Some of the general properties of liquid crystals are introduced and the book then addresses how we arrived at our current understanding of the liquid crystal phase.
This book presents a compilation of self-contained chapters covering a wide range of topics within the broad field of soft condensed matter. Each chapter starts with basic definitions to bring the reader up-to-date on the topic at hand, describing how to use fluid flows to generate soft materials of high value either for applications or for basic research. Coverage includes topics related to colloidal suspensions and soft materials and how they differ in behavior, along with a roadmap for researchers on how to use soft materials to study relevant physics questions related to geometrical frustration.
Despite many of us staring at liquid crystals--in the form of liquid-crystal displays--for large portions of our waking life, for many their science and beauty is an untold story full of surprise and wonder. This book takes you on a photographic journey through the science of liquid crystals. By the end you'll be familiar with what they are, how they form and their role in producing the complexity of life on Earth. Presented in non-technical language, without any mathematics, this accessible text looks at spider webs, silk, display technology, lasers, dyes, detergents, DNA, cell membranes, drug delivery mechanisms, anaesthesia and optical computing. Presented in non-technical language and without any mathematics, this book is accessible to all, even if you have no prior knowledge of physics or chemistry.
The aim of this book is to give a unified and critical account of the fundamental aspects of liquid crystals. Preference is given to discussing the assumptions made in developing theories and analyzing experimental data rather than to attempting to compile all the latest results. The book has four parts. Part I is quite descriptive in character and gives a general overview of the various liquid crystalline phases. Part II deals with the macroscopic continuum theory of liquid crystals and gives a systematic development of the theory from a tensorial point of view thus emphasizing the relevant symmetries. Part III concentrates on experiments that provide microscopic information on the orientational behaviour of the molecules. Finally Part IV discusses the theory of the various phases and their attendant phase transitions from both a Landau and a molecular-statistical point of view. Simplifying the various models as far as possible, it critically examines the merits of a molecular-statistical approach.