Variational theories of liquid crystals: Materials science at many length scales

10 Ene Variational theories of liquid crystals: Materials science at many length scales

“Liquid crystals” are a broad class of materials that sit between the solid/fluid dichotomy. To the naked eye they typically appear as fluids (“Liquid”), but are structured over molecular length scales (“Crystals”). Their obvious exposure comes from their use in LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screens, where their softness as fluids makes them easy to manipulate, while their structure over length scales comparable to the wavelength of visible light means they have useful optical properties. However such structured fluids appear everywhere, particularly in biological systems. This course is aimed to be a broad, self-contained overview of the static/equilibrium theories of liquid crystals, typically phrased as problems in the calculus of variations (free energy minimisation). More info: https://www.bcamath.org/en/courses/2019-03-18-bcam-course

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