Liquid Crystal

Aligned stacks of monomethyl and dimethyl dimyristoyl phosphatidylethanolamine (DMPE) lipid bilayers, like the much studied dimyristoyl PC (DMPC) bilayers, swell anomalously in a critical fashion as the temperature is decreased within the fluid phase towards the main transition temperature, T(M). Unlike DMPC bilayers, both monomethyl and dimethyl DMPE undergo transitions into a gel phase rather than a rippled phase below T(M). Although it is not fully understood why there is anomalous swelling, our present results should facilitate theory by showing that the formation of the phase below T(M) is not related to critical phenomena above T(M).

Intrinsic evolution in evolvable hardware research has hitherto been limited to using standard electronic components as the media for problem solving. However, recently it has been argued that because such components are human designed and intentionally has predictable responses; they may not be the optimal medium to use when trying to get a naturally inspired search technique to solve a problem. Evolution has been demonstrated as capable of exploiting the physical properties of material to form solutions; however, by giving evolution only conventional components, we may be placing arbitrary constraints on our ability to solve certain problems. We have shown for the first time, that liquid crystal can be used as the physical substrate for evolution. We demonstrate that it is possible to evolve various functions, including a tone discriminator, in materio.

Current micro-calorimetry equipment requires large sample volumes. To overcome this limitations, a highly sensitive nano-calorimeter with reduced sample volume and decreased response time was developed (Winter, W. and Hohne, G.W.H., Thermochimica Acta, vol.403, p.43-53, 2003; Eframov, M. Yu et al., Thermochimica Acta, vol.412, p.13-23, 2004). Sensitivity is evinced by detection of phase transitions in liquid crystals, solutions of a phospholipid

Tunable-focus cylindrical liquid crystal lenses of four different electrode configurations are analyzed. Simulation results show that the proposed devices can have different focal lengths even if they have the same aperture size. A good agreement between experiment and simulation results is obtained. The imaging property of one of the cylindrical liquid crystal lenses is also demonstrated.

Four series of new [1]benzothieno[3,2- b][1]benzothiophene derivatives have been synthesized. In the non-chiral series a SmA phase occurs, while the chiral series exhibits a rather wide antiferroelectric SmC* phase just below the SmA phase. The SmA-SmC* phase transition has been studied using DSC and dielectric spectroscopy. In the SmC* phase the spontaneous quantities have been measured. The tilt angle shows

Orientational order parameters determined from (1)H NMR spectroscopy of solutes in liquid crystals that form both nematic and smectic A phases are used to determine the solute smectic A order parameters and the smectic-nematic coupling term. For the analysis, it is necessary to know the nematic part of the potential in the smectic A phase: various ways of extrapolating parameters from the nematic phase to the smectic phase are explored.