Contents

### **Preface XI**



Preface

This book encapsulates varieties of application-oriented phenomena of liquid crystals, contrib‐ uted by authors from different countries. The spotlight shines on the aspects pivoted to the novel properties of this complex-structured medium that can be harnessed for real-life needs. In a sense, some of the chapters describe well-understood phenomena of liquid crystals, whereas the others highlight on how these could be conceived for the development of new devices. In every chapter, the authors review the recent developments in the area reported by the preeminent researchers and, also, touch upon their own contributions. As such, the book

Liquid crystals are optically active in nature and exist in a few different forms of molecular structures, viz., nematic, smectic, and cholesteric. Chapter 1 of this book remains the intro‐ ductory part, wherein the fundamentals behind liquid crystals and the involved research di‐ rectives are briefly described. Within the context of the features of varieties of liquid crystals, the optical textures of cholesterol make the cholesteric kind of liquid crystals greatly interest‐ ing for the study of optical activity. The synthesis of a certain kind of cholesteric liquid crystal phase—the cationic cholesteric liquid crystals—is reported by Méndez in Chapter 2. This chapter shares the important result that such a form of liquid crystal polymer can act as non‐

The director of cholesteric liquid crystal molecules exhibits periodic helical structure, the al‐ teration of which due to dopants would modify the liquid crystal phase. In this stream, the blue phase of liquid crystals exhibits outstanding electro-optical properties, which makes it a promising introduction into display-related usage. Chapter 3 by Kemiklioglu discusses the stabilization and electro-optical properties of blue phases of liquid crystals emphasizing their

In the context of phase transition of liquid crystals, Contreras in Chapter 4 focuses on the discus‐ sions of thermotropic liquid crystals of nematic and smectic A types under the external magnet‐ ic field. Exploiting the linear stability theory, the author investigates the effects of thermal phase transition on nematics of finite thickness samples with the conceptual framework of Faraday wave propagation. Here, the author shares his quantitative understanding of the dynamics of

Chapter 5 by Song et al. reviews the structure and property of lyotropic liquid crystal-based materials. In the ordered phase of liquid crystals, molecules tend to align along a common direction, thereby yielding orderly oriented macroscopic domains, which would provide a way to control the orientation of *additive* materials. Within the context, different kinds of ad‐ ditives, namely, carbon nanotubes, graphene, biomolecules, etc., may be used for investiga‐ tion. This chapter describes the mechanical, electrical, and physicochemical properties of the

surface phenomena in liquid crystals through the theoretical and experimental means.

essentially provides readers a glimpse of the multitudes of liquid crystal research.

viral vectors in gene therapy, transfecting DNA to the nucleus cell.

potentials for applications in display technology and other photonic devices.

Chapter 12 **Recent Dispersion Technology Using Liquid Crystal 243** Yuji Yamashita
