As their name indicates, liquid crystals simultaneously exhibit some characteristics common
to both ordinary isotropic liquids and solid crystals. This ambivalence is also found in the …

Essentially there are two variational theories of liquid crystals explained in this book. The
theory put forward by Zocher, Oseen and Frank is classical, while that proposed by Ericksen …

We apply the technique of optical second-harmonic generation to study homogeneously
aligned liquid-crystal cells. The surface dipole sensitivity of the technique made it possible to …

Current understanding of different phases as well as the phase transitions between them
has only been achieved following recent theoretical advances on the effects of …

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 …

Existing experimental techniques for measuring the orientational anchoring strength at a
substrate-nematic interface are critically analyzed with a particular emphasis on their …

Extrusion, electrospinning, and microdrawing are widely used to create fibrous polymer
mats, but these approaches offer limited access to oriented arrays of nanometer-scale fibers …

The out-of-plane anchoring strength at the interface between 4-n-pentyl-4'-
cyanobipheny!(SCB) and an obliquely evaporated SiD was measured as a function of …

Current nematic liquid-crystal (LC) displays rely on voltage-induced reorientation of the
director (the average molecular direction) within the bulk of the LC layer. In these devices …

Stable nematic director fields of liquid crystals confined to cylindrical cavities which enforce
homogeneous concentric anchoring depend on the competition between azimuthal and …