Introduction to Liquid Crystals
The study of liquid crystals began in 1888 when an Austrian botanist named Friedrich Reinitzer observed that a material known as cholesteryl benzoate had two distinct melting points. In his experiments, Reinitzer increased the temperature of a solid sample and watched the crystal change into a hazy liquid. As he increased the temperature further, the material changed again into a clear, transparent liquid. Because of this early work, Reinitzer is often credited with discovering a new phase of matter - the liquid crystal phase.
Liquid crystal materials are unique in their properties and uses. As research into this field continues and as new applications are developed, liquid crystals will play an important role in modern technology. This tutorial provides an introduction to the science and applications of these materials.
What are Liquid Crystals?
Liquid crystal materials generally have
several common characteristics. Among these are a rod-like molecular structure,
rigidness of the long axis, and strong dipoles and/or easily polarizable
substituents.
The distinguishing characteristic of the liquid crystalline state is the tendency of the molecules (mesogens) to point along a common axis, called the director. This is in contrast to molecules in the liquid phase, which have no intrinsic order. In the solid state, molecules are highly ordered and have little translational freedom. The characteristic orientational order of the liquid crystal state is between the traditional solid and liquid phases and this is the origin of the term mesogenic state, used synonymously with liquid crystal state. Note the average alignment of the molecules for each phase in the following diagram.
It is sometimes difficult to determine whether a material is in a crystal or liquid crystal state. Crystalline materials demonstrate long range periodic order in three dimensions. By definition, an isotropic liquid has no orientational order. Substances that aren't as ordered as a solid, yet have some degree of alignment are properly called liquid crystals.
To quantify just how much order is present in a material, an order parameter (S) is defined. Traditionally, the order parameter is given as follows:
where theta is the angle between the director and the long axis of each molecule. The brackets denote an average over all of the molecules in the sample. In an isotropic liquid, the average of the cosine terms is zero, and therefore the order parameter is equal to zero. For a perfect crystal, the order parameter evaluates to one. Typical values for the order parameter of a liquid crystal range between 0.3 and 0.9, with the exact value a function of temperature, as a result of kinetic molecular motion. This is illustrated below for a nematic liquid crystal material (to be discussed in the next section).
The tendency of the liquid crystal molecules
to point along the director leads to a condition known as anisotropy. This
term means that the properties of a material depend on the direction in
which they are measured. For example, it is easier to cut a piece of wood
along the grain than against it. The anisotropic nature of liquid crystals
is responsible for the unique optical properties exploited by scientists
and engineers in a variety of applications.
Characterizing Liquid Crystals
The following parameters describe the liquid
crystalline structure:
- Positional Order
- Orientational Order
- Bond Orientational Order
Each of these parameters describes the
extent to which the liquid crystal sample is ordered. Positional order
refers to the extent to which an average molecule or group of molecules
shows translational symmetry (as crystalline material shows). Orientational
order, as discussed above, represents a measure of the tendency of the
molecules to align along the director on a long-range basis. Bond Orientational
Order describes a line joining the centers of nearest-neighbor molecules
without requiring a regular spacing along that line. Thus, a relatively
long-range order with respect to the line of centers but only short range
positional order along that line. (See discussion of hexatic phases in
a text such as Chandrasekhar, Liquid Crystals)
Most liquid crystal compounds exhibit polymorphism,
or a condition where more than one phase is observed in the liquid crystalline
state. The term mesophase is used to describe the "subphases" of liquid
crystal materials. Mesophases are formed by changing the amount of order
in the sample, either by imposing order in only one or two dimensions,
or by allowing the molecules to have a degree of translational motion.
The following section describes the mesophases of liquid crystals in greater
detail.
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Liquid Crystal Phases
The liquid crystal state is a distinct phase of matter observed between the crystalline (solid) and isotropic (liquid) states. There are many types of liquid crystal states, depending upon the amount of order in the material. This section will explain the phase behavior of liquid crystal materials.
Nematic Phases
The nematic liquid crystal phase is characterized
by molecules that have no positional order but tend to point in the same
direction (along the director). In the following diagram, notice that the
molecules point vertically but are arranged with no particular order.
A special class of nematic liquid crystals is called chiral nematic. Chiral refers to the unique ability to selectively reflect one component of circularly polarized light. The term chiral nematic is used interchangeably with cholesteric. Refer to the section on cholesteric liquid crystals for more information about this mesophase.
Smectic Phases
The word "smectic" is derived from the
Greek word for soap. This seemingly ambiguous origin is explained by the
fact that the thick, slippery substance often found at the bottom of a
soap dish is actually a type of smectic liquid crystal.
The smectic state is another distinct
mesophase of liquid crystal substances. Molecules in this phase show a
degree of translational order not present in the nematic. In the smectic
state, the molecules maintain the general orientational order of nematics,
but also tend to align themselves in layers or planes. Motion is restricted
to within these planes, and separate planes are observed to flow past each
other. The increased order means that the smectic state is more "solid-like"
than the nematic.
Cholesteric Phases
The cholesteric (or chiral nematic) liquid
crystal phase is typically composed of nematic mesogenic molecules containing
a chiral center which produces intermolecular forces that favor alignment
between molecules at a slight angle to one another. This leads to the formation
of a structure which can be visualized as a stack of very thin 2-D nematic-like
layers with the director in each layer twisted with respect to those above
and below. In this structure, the directors actually form in a continuous
helical pattern about the layer normal as illustrated by the black arrow
in the following figure and animation. The black arrow in the animation
represents director orientation in the succession of layers along the stack.
Columnar Phases
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