Liquid crystal fibers of bent-core molecules

Abstract

Although the liquid-crystal research is well established in science, there are newly emerging exciting systems, that deserve extensive basic studies. One of these areas is the research of the bent-shaped molecules (so-called "banana liquid crystals"), which have delicate chirality and polarity properties. In this paper we show that these materials also have very unusual rheological features, such as the formation of stable fluid fibers and bridges. Under electric fields, these objects present striking mechanical effects, such as horizontal and transversal vibrations. Studies indicate that the research of banana-liquid-crystal fibers may lead to new type of artificial muscle systems.

Organization of the polarization splay modulated smectic liquid crystal phase by topographic confinement

“…Among the more exotic of these are the B7 phases, in which the polarization field exhibits a periodic splay modulation, leading, in combination with the fluid smectic layering, to intricate textures in bulk samples (3)(4)(5)(6). As for many smectics appearing upon cooling directly from the isotropic phase via a first order transition, i.e., having no intervening nematic phase, the B7s are not easily aligned into macroscopically oriented domains of any sort with the anisotropic surface treatment methods such as optical-or mechanical-rubbed polymer surfaces or obliquely deposited silicon monoxide (SiOx) (7)(8)(9)(10)(11) that are typically useful for aligning LCs.…”

Tension of freely suspended fluid filaments

“…Freely suspended fluid filaments are among the most exotic structures formed by liquid crystalline materials [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Most of these unique structures are found in some mesophases of bent-core smectogens.…”

“…Such filaments represent either single cylindrical fibers or bundles of fibrils of about 2 µm diameter. The smectic layers are wrapped around the fibril axes [6,8]. The material can flow freely along the axis.…”

“…Earlier mechanical and electrical studies explored the dynamical properties of such filaments [6,7,12]. However, still very little is known about their mechanical characteristics.…”

Evanescent Field Enhancement in Liquid Crystal Optical Fibers: A Field Characteristics Based Analysis

“…Among the others, fibers made of liquid crystals [1][2][3] fall into the category of complex mediums and proved to be greatly attractive for multifarious applications [4,5] because these materials present the distinct characteristic of anisotropic nature in their physical properties [6,7]. Investigators have reported liquid crystal optical fibers (LCOFs) of different forms of constructions in respect of geometry as well as material distributions.…”