Optical and Molecular Aspects of Liquid Crystals

Dear Colleagues,

Molecular structure and optical properties are of the most interesting aspects of liquid crystalline materials. Recently, they have been the topic of intensive studies due to their essential application potential in material science technology. Since new types and properties of liquid crystal phases have been observed and investigated, such materials are bound to gain increasing importance in many industrial and scientific fields. Liquid crystalline materials are intensively developed for applications in optics and photonics because they combine a number of useful properties such as the optical transparency, large birefringence and high sensitivity to electric, light, and thermal fields.
The optical properties of liquid crystalline materials are mainly dependent on their molecular geometry, where minor changes in their molecular structures can be accompanied by great changes in their mechanical and optical characteristics. Modification of specific materials resulting in novel architectures is an important area of interest in geometrical approaches. In recent years, several synthesized compounds have been made in order to produce wide varieties of molecular geometries. Among these features one can mention rod-like and angular-shaped molecules, polymeric architectures, symmetric dimers, and non-symmetric dimmers, each of them possessing their conventional and unique mesophases.
Research dealing with the problems relating to electro-optical properties, physical and thermal characterizations, structure, dynamics, interactions, reaction mechanisms, reaction rates and involving new synthesized materials, nanostructures, soft matter, self-assembly, and composites is invited in this Special Issue.
The aim of this Special Issue, “Optical and Molecular Aspects of Liquid Crystals”, is to provide an open multidisciplinary platform for fundamental new research on the chemistry, physics, and possible applications of optical materials.

Dr. Hoda A. Ahmed
Dr. Sergey Shvetsov
Guest Editors

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