内容

目次

Part 1 Liquid crystals - main types and properties: introduction - whatis a liquid crystal?; the building blocks; nematics and cholesterics;smectics; columnar phases; more on long-, quasi-long and short-rangeorder; remarkable features of liquid crystals. Part 2 Long- andshort-range order in nematics: definition of an order parameter;statistical theories of the nematic order; phenomonological descriptionof the nematic-isotopic; mixtures. Part 3 Static distortion in anematic single crystal: principles of the continuum theory; magneticfield effects; electric field effects in an insulating nematic;fluctuations in the alignment; hydrostatics of nematics. Part 4 Defectsand textures in nematics: observations; disclination lines; pointdisclinations; walls under magnetic fields; umbilics; surfacedisclinations. Part 5 Dynamical properties of nematics: the equationsof "nematodynamics"; experiments measuring the Leslie co-efficients;convective instabilities under electric fields; molecular motions. Part6 Cholesterics: optical properties of an ideal helix; agentsinfluencing the pitch; dynamical properties; textures and defects incholesterics. Part 7 Smectics: symmetry of the main smectic phases;continuum description of smectics A and C; remarks on phase andprecritical phenomena.