Integral equation theory of biaxial liquid crystalline system

Novel biaxial nematic phases of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers.

We present a mean field theory to describe biaxial nematic phases of side-chain liquid crystalline polymers, in which rigid side-chains (mesogens) and rigid-backbone chains favor mutually perpendicular orientations. Taking into account both excluded volume and attractive interactions between rigid rods, novel biaxial nematic phases are theoretically predicted. We calculate uniaxial and biaxial ...

Continuum Theory of Biaxial Nematic Liquid Crystals

Thermotropic biaxial nematic phase in liquid crystalline organo-siloxane tetrapodes.

Infrared absorbance measurements have been carried out on two liquid crystalline organo-siloxane tetrapodes. Results unambiguously show the existence of a biaxial nematic phase below a uniaxial nematic phase. The three components of IR absorbance are used to calculate the various order parameters. On cooling, a weak first-order transition from isotropic to nematic is observed, followed by a sec...

Theory of liquid crystalline micelles.

A theory is introduced to describe self-assembly of liquid crystalline AB diblock copolymers, consisting of a homopolymer (A) and a side-chain liquid crystalline polymer (B). We derive the free energy of the liquid crystalline micellar solutions and examine the equilibrium solution properties: critical micelle concentration (CMC), nematic-isotropic phase transition (NIT) of the rigid side-chain...

Combinations of simulation and integral equation theory

Much work has been done to accelerate the prediction of structure and thermodynamics, particularly of the chemical potential of condensed phases by means of molecular simulation, requiring large computational power or simpli®ed simulation procedures. This work demonstrates that the combination of simulation with approximate calculations based on integral equation theory provides the necessary i...