Liquid Crystal Research

Renate Crawford

This project is currently inactive.

Fundamental research includes a funded study of liquid crystals constrained to capillary tubes, with the molecules anchored parallel to the capillary surface and their long axes perpendicular to the cylinder axis. This study is designed to simultaneously measure the twist/bend bulk elastic constant ratio, the surface elastic constant K24, and the azimuthal and polar anchoring strengths. These measurements will be made by modeling the observed optical polarizing microscope textures. One of the applied projects using liquid crystals consists of building novel electrically controlled diffraction gratings (ECDG) for diffractive optics applications. The concept of spatially synthesizing the index of refraction of liquid crystal polymer dispersions, known as polymer dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs), enables novel electrically switchable gratings to be fabricated that effectively diffract light. Both projects are ideally suited for undergraduate participation on campus.