Liquid Crystal types

smectic
Modes
twisted nematic

nematic,
cholesteric,

: dynamic scattering
display systems.

LIQUID CRYSTALS
What are Liquid Crystals?
Intermediate state of a matter, in between the liquid and
the crystal.
possess some typical properties of a liquid
(e. g. uidity, inability to support shear, formation and
coalescence of droplets)
some crystalline properties
(anisotropy in optical, electrical, and magnetic properties,
periodic arrangement of molecules in one spatial direction,
etc.)

Why are liquid crystal displays important?

The first factor is size.
no bulky picture tube.
This makes LCDs practical for applications where sizes (as well as weight)
are important.
In general, LCDs use much less power than their cathode-ray tube (CRT)
counterparts.
Many LCDs are reective, meaning that they use only ambient light to
illuminate the display.
Liquid crystal displays do have drawbacks; shorter lifetime of LC displays
limits their use.
Only AC drive can give a lifetime more than 10,000 hours where as on DC
excitation the maximum lifetime that can be obtained is 3000 hours.

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)

Innovation Timeline

1888-1899
1888, Austrian
Botanist Freidrich
Reinitzer discovers
1967,
James
Fergason
liquid
crystals
discovered the "twisted
nematic" LCD. He produced
the first practical displays
4/15/16

Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)

Innovation Timeline
2000- Present
2004, Philips
demonstrated a 20 3D LCD at CeBIT in
Hannover
2005, Samsung
Developed World's
Largest (82") Full HDTV
TFT-LCD
4/15/16

1)There must be a first-order transition between

the true crystalline state at the lower
temperature bound leading to the liquid crystalline
state,
2) A liquid crystal must exhibit one - or twodimensional order only; true crystals have threedimensional order, and the isotropic liquid is completely
disordered.
3) A liquid crystalline material must display some
degree of uidity, although for polymers the
viscosity may be high.
4) Usually the conditions for liquid crystal formation are
best met when the molecules have at least some
portion of their structure in the form of rods or disks.

2. Molecular structure and Chemical

Composition

A side chain R, two or more aromatic

rings A and A, connected by linkage
groups X and Y, and at the other end
connected to a terminal group R.
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Classifications
Lyotropic, Polymeric, and Thermotropic Liquid Crystals
Thermotropic LCs exhibit a phase transition into the LC
phase as temperature is changed
Lyotropic LCs exhibit phase transitions as a function of
concentration of the mesogen in a solvent (typically water) as
well as temperature.
Nematic, cholesteric, smectic, and ferroelectric.

4/15/16

Liquid Crystal
Phases
Nematic, Smectic & Cholesteric

Anisotrpic substances may go through one or

several Liquid Crystal Phases
4/15/16

Chang-Kui Duan, Institute of

Modern Physics, CUPT

Mesogens
Molecules that exhibit liquid crystal phases are called
mesogens.
For a molecule to display an LC phase, - be fairly rigid and
anisotropic (i.e. longer in one direction than another).
Most mesogens fall into the 'rigid-rod' class (calamitic
mesogens)
Disk-like (discotic) mesogens - these orient in the
direction of their short axis.

Examples :
Polymers and colloidal suspensions can also form LC
phases.
micrometre-sized objects (such as anisotropic colloids),
latex particles,
clay platelets and even some viruses,
such as the tobacco mosaic virus)
can organize themselves in liquid crystal phases.

These more exotic mesogens generally fall into the

category of lyotropic liquid crystals.

Thermotropic liquid crystals

Thermotropic phases are those that occur in a certain temperature
range.
If the temperature is raised too high, thermal motion will destroy
the delicate cooperative ordering of the LC phase, pushing the
material into a conventional isotropic liquid phase.
At too low a temperature, most LC materials will form a
conventional (though anisotropic) crystal.
Many thermotropic LCs exhibit a variety of phases as temperature
is changed.
For instance, a particular mesogen may exhibit various smectic
and nematic (and finally isotropic) phases as temperature is
increased.

The chiral nematic phase exhibits chirality.

often called the cholesteric phase because it was first observed

for cholesterol derivatives.

phase exhibits a twisting of the molecules along the director, with

the molecular axis perpendicular to the director.

The finite twist angle between adjacent molecules is due to their

asymmetric packing, which results in longer-range chiral order.

In the smectic C* phase, the molecules orient roughly along the

director, with a finite tilt angle, and a twist relative to other
mesogens.

This results in, again, a spiral twisting of molecular axis

along the director.
pitch may be varied by adjusting temperature or adding
other molecules to the LC uid.

For many types of liquid crystals, the pitch is on the same

order as the wavelength of visible light.

This causes these systems to exhibit unique optic

al properties, such as selective reection.

These properties are exploited in a number of optical

applications.

SmecticPhases
"smectic" is derived from the Greek word for soap.
Thick, slippery substance often found at the bottom of a soap
dish is actually a type of smectic liquid crystal.
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 ow past each other.
The increased order means that the smectic state is more
"solid-like" than the nematic.

Photo of the smectic A phase

(using polarizing microscope)

Picture of the smectic A phase

Photo of the smectic C phase

(using polarizing microscope)

Picture of the smectic C phase

An LCD consists primarily of two

glass plates with some liquid
crystal material between them.

The nematic phase, for example, is characterized by the

orientational order of the constituent molecules.
The molecular orientation (and hence the material's optical
properties) can be controlled with applied electric fields.
Nematics are (still) the most commonly used phase in liquid crystal
displays (LCDs), with many such devices using the twisted nematic
geometry.

Cholesteric liquid crystals

thermography
when the temperature of a
cholesteric liquid crystal is changed
over a particular range, they exhibit
colour changes over the entire colour
scale from red to violet.

The smectic phases, which are found at lower temperatures than the
nematic, form well-defined layers that can slide over one another like
soap.
The smectics are thus positionally ordered along one direction.
In the Smectic A phase, the molecules are oriented along the layer
normal, while in the Smectic C phase they are tilted away from the
layer normal.

There is a very large number of different smectic phases, all

characterized by different types and degrees of positional and
orientational order.

Other LCD application: LCD Projector

4/15/16

Chang-Kui Duan, Institute of

Modern Physics, CUPT