6,258 research outputs found
Acoustic Spectroscopy of the DNA in GHz range
We find a parametric resonance in the GHz range of the DNA dynamics,
generated by pumping hypersound . There are localized phonon modes caused by
the random structure of elastic modulii due to the sequence of base pairs
Electric-field-induced nematic-cholesteric transition and 3-D director structures in homeotropic cells
We study the phase diagram of director structures in cholesteric liquid
crystals of negative dielectric anisotropy in homeotropic cells of thickness d
which is smaller than the cholesteric pitch p. The basic control parameters are
the frustration ratio d/p and the applied voltage U. Fluorescence Confocal
Polarising Microscopy allows us to directly and unambiguously determine the 3-D
director structures. The results are of importance for potential applications
of the cholesteric structures, such as switchable gratings and eyewear with
tunable transparency based.Comment: Will be published in Physical Review
Separate measurements of the flexoelectric and surface polarization in a model nematic liquid crystal p-methoxybenzylidene-p´-butylaniline : Validity of the quadrupolar approach
The temperature dependences of the surface polarization have been measured at the interface of a conductive glass with both the homogeneously and homeotropically oriented nematic liquid crystal p-methoxybenzylidene-p´-butylaniline. The polarization was found in the field-off regime from the pyroelectric response of a cell to a short laser pulse, absorbed in the bulk of the liquid crystal. The temperature increment was calculated from the measurements of the birefringence induced by the same light pulse. It has been shown that the surface polarization at the homeotropic (mh) and planar (mp) interfaces is directed from an interface into the bulk and from the bulk to an interface, respectively (with a magnitude mh~— 0.3 pC/m and mp' ≈ 0.2 pC/m at 25℃). The experimental data may be explained in terms of the quadrupole model of the order-electric polarization with account of some additional contribution from molecular dipoles. The same technique also allows for the measurements of the z component of the flexoelectric polarization using a pyroelectric response of a hybrid (homeoplanar) aligned nematic cell and proper subtracting of the surface contributions. The flexoelectric polarization has been shown to be opposite to the sum of the surface terms mh + mp and directed from the planar to homeotropic interface. This means that the sum of the flexoelectric coefficients e=(e1 + e3) is positive (e ≅ 1.7 pC/m at 28℃). The temperature dependence of e has been shown to involve a combination of both the quadrupolar and dipolar contributions
Temporal response to harmonic driving in electroconvection
The temporal evolution of the spatially periodic electroconvection (EC)
patterns has been studied within the period of the driving ac voltage by
monitoring the light intensity diffracted from the pattern. Measurements have
been carried out on a variety of nematic systems, including those with negative
dielectric and positive conductivity anisotropy, exhibiting "standard EC"
(s-EC), those with both anisotropies negative exhibiting "non-standard EC"
(ns-EC), as well as those with the two anisotropies positive. Theoretical
predictions have been confirmed for stationary s-EC and ns-EC patterns.
Transitions with Hopf bifurcation have also been studied. While traveling had
no effect on the temporal evolution of dielectric s-EC, traveling conductive
s-EC and ns-EC patterns exhibited a substantially altered temporal behavior
with a dependence on the Hopf frequency. It has also been shown that in
nematics with both anisotropies positive, the pattern develops and decays
within an interval much shorter than the period, even at relatively large
driving frequencies.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure
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