Investigations of optical and mechanical properties of liquid crystals

• Grant number: 96/09151-4
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: June 01, 1997
• End date: May 31, 2002
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Condensed Matter Physics
• Principal Investigator: Antonio Martins Figueiredo Neto
• Grantee: Antonio Martins Figueiredo Neto
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant(s): 00/00461-8 - Wetting induced anisotropic structure at the interface of a glass and a sponge phase., AR.EXT; 98/16286-9 - Z-scan measurement of the nonlinear refractive indices of micellar lyotropic liquid crystals with and without the ferrofluid doping., AR.EXT; 98/06203-9 - Nonuniversal critical behavior at the uniaxial biaxial nematic phase transition in a lyotropic mixture., AR.EXT

Abstract

The aim of the project is to study the phase transitions and the characterization of the optical properties of the ferroelectric and anti-ferroelectric liquid crytals using optical and X-Ray crystallography techniques, and the study of the non-linear optical properties of lyotropic liquid crystals. In the case of the ferroelectrics (and anti-ferroelectrics), measurements of the longitudinal spontaneous polarization (and the dielectric constant) will be done as a function of the temperature and the anchoring properties of the basic units of these mesophases n glass surfaces, treated or not with Langmuir-Blodgett films. In the case of the non-linear optical properties of the lyotropic liquid crystals, measurements of the non-linear birefringence and the non-linear refractive indices will be done as a function of the temperature. The non-linear optical properties of these complex fluids will be investigated as well the aspect of the phase transitions. (AU)

Filed patent(s) as a result of this research project