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Our recent paper "Thickness Dependent Phase Behavior of Antiferroelectric Liquid Crystal Films" was highlighted on Physics.

Entitled "Finite size effects in liquid crystals", the Physics Synopses highlighted
our work recently published in PRL

In this paper, we reported the thickness dependent phase diagram of the free
standing films of MHPBC. From the data, we showed that finite size effects
are responsible for the thickness dependent evolution of the SmC*alpha phase.
We also showed that due to the similar structures of the smectic liquid crystal
films and magnetic films, the work on thin magnetic films can help our
understanding of the physics of smectic films and vice verse.

Also, we showed that the enhanced surface ordering effects are responsible for
the increased stability of the SmC*FI2 phase in thin films.

Image to the right is a cartoon of the structure of SmC*alpha phase. Green arrows
represent the polarization vector of each layer. The pitch of the structure is 5 layers.

Group picture summer 2009. From left to right front row: LiDong Pan; Zengqiang Liu; Prof. C.C. Huang; M. K. Paul.
Back row: Shun Wang; Kawsu Barry; Brian Moths

This Summer (2010) we have Dr. Z.Q. Liu from St. Cloud State University and Dr. B. McCoy from Azusa Pacific University,
together with their students, joining us in the experiments performed at National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Lab.

Tate Lab of Physics, Room B75
School of Physics and Astronomy
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Tel: 612-624-1876

For questions about this website and usage about the materials on this site, contact: pan@physics.umn.edu

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