{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/25614"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/25614","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Experimental investigations of the pretransition behavior near the nematic-smectic A phase transition","abstract":"We present here two experiments which measure the static and dynamic pretransition behavior of the nematic-smectic A phase transition of the liquid crystal CBOOA. The first experiment is a conventional Rayleigh light scattering measurement performed with excellent temperature control of the liquid crystal. The second is a novel magneto-optic experiment which uses an external magnetic field to distort the liquid crystal and a sensitive optical interference technique to measure the distortion. Both measurements are performed with millikelvin temperature resolution and yield critical exponents for the elastic constants and the twist viscosity coefficient. These results are inconsistent with the three proposed theories of the critical behavior at least in the simple form in which the theories were first proposed and suggest that further theoretical work is necessary in order to understand this phase transition. A theory of the nonlinear elastic response of liquid crystals near the nematic-smectic A phase transition is also presented.","abstract_html":"We present here two experiments which measure the static and dynamic pretransition behavior of the nematic-smectic A phase transition of the liquid crystal CBOOA. The first experiment is a conventional Rayleigh light scattering measurement performed with excellent temperature control of the liquid crystal. The second is a novel magneto-optic experiment which uses an external magnetic field to distort the liquid crystal and a sensitive optical interference technique to measure the distortion. Both measurements are performed with millikelvin temperature resolution and yield critical exponents for the elastic constants and the twist viscosity coefficient. These results are inconsistent with the three proposed theories of the critical behavior at least in the simple form in which the theories were first proposed and suggest that further theoretical work is necessary in order to understand this phase transition. A theory of the nonlinear elastic response of liquid crystals near the nematic-smectic A phase transition is also presented.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Chu, Kung-Chao"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Physics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["McMillan, W.L."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-07-01T16:32:06Z","date_published":"2011-07-01T16:32:06Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:24Z","subjects":["pretransition behavior","nematic-smectic A phase transition","liquid crystal CBOOA"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["1977 Kung-Chao Chu"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["252915"],"render_values":[{"text":"252915","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/25614","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["McMillan, W.L."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Chu, Kung-Chao"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-07-01T16:32:06Z","10000-01-01","1977"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation / Thesis","text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Physics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["pretransition behavior","nematic-smectic A phase transition","liquid crystal CBOOA"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["1977 Kung-Chao Chu"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["252915","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/25614"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["We present here two experiments which measure the static and dynamic pretransition behavior of the nematic-smectic A phase transition of the liquid crystal CBOOA. The first experiment is a conventional Rayleigh light scattering measurement performed with excellent temperature control of the liquid crystal. The second is a novel magneto-optic experiment which uses an external magnetic field to distort the liquid crystal and a sensitive optical interference technique to measure the distortion. Both measurements are performed with millikelvin temperature resolution and yield critical exponents for the elastic constants and the twist viscosity coefficient. These results are inconsistent with the three proposed theories of the critical behavior at least in the simple form in which the theories were first proposed and suggest that further theoretical work is necessary in order to understand this phase transition. A theory of the nonlinear elastic response of liquid crystals near the nematic-smectic A phase transition is also presented.","Submitted by Carolyn Mead (cmead2@illinois.edu) on 2011-07-01T16:32:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 1977_chu.pdf: 2944861 bytes, checksum: 013ef3643f7ed8e815a62018489a1911 (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2011-07-01T16:32:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1977_chu.pdf: 2944861 bytes, checksum: 013ef3643f7ed8e815a62018489a1911 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1977","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Carolyn Mead (cmead2@illinois.edu) on 2011-07-01T16:32:06Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:32:29-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: Thesis","Thesis","U of I Only"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Experimental investigations of the pretransition behavior near the nematic-smectic A phase transition"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["McMillan, W.L."],"dc:creator":["Chu, Kung-Chao"],"dc:date":["2011-07-01T16:32:06Z","10000-01-01","1977"],"dc:description":["We present here two experiments which measure the static and dynamic pretransition behavior of the nematic-smectic A phase transition of the liquid crystal CBOOA. The first experiment is a conventional Rayleigh light scattering measurement performed with excellent temperature control of the liquid crystal. The second is a novel magneto-optic experiment which uses an external magnetic field to distort the liquid crystal and a sensitive optical interference technique to measure the distortion. Both measurements are performed with millikelvin temperature resolution and yield critical exponents for the elastic constants and the twist viscosity coefficient. These results are inconsistent with the three proposed theories of the critical behavior at least in the simple form in which the theories were first proposed and suggest that further theoretical work is necessary in order to understand this phase transition. A theory of the nonlinear elastic response of liquid crystals near the nematic-smectic A phase transition is also presented.","Submitted by Carolyn Mead (cmead2@illinois.edu) on 2011-07-01T16:32:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 1977_chu.pdf: 2944861 bytes, checksum: 013ef3643f7ed8e815a62018489a1911 (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2011-07-01T16:32:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1977_chu.pdf: 2944861 bytes, checksum: 013ef3643f7ed8e815a62018489a1911 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1977","Item marked as restricted to the 'UIUC Users [automated]' Group (id=2) by Carolyn Mead (cmead2@illinois.edu) on 2011-07-01T16:32:06Z Item is restricted indefinitely.","Restriction data tranferred 2014-07-01T11:32:29-05:00 Original Data Group with Access UIUC Users [automated] Release Date: none Reason: Thesis","Thesis","U of I Only"],"dc:identifier":["252915","http://hdl.handle.net/2142/25614"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["1977 Kung-Chao Chu"],"dc:subject":["pretransition behavior","nematic-smectic A phase transition","liquid crystal CBOOA"],"dc:title":["Experimental investigations of the pretransition behavior near the nematic-smectic A phase transition"],"dc:type":["Dissertation / Thesis","text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Physics"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:24Z"}