Physical Properties of Liquid Crystalline Materials in Relation to Their Applications

Abstract

A short review is given of successively the diamagnetic susceptibility, the refractive index, the dielectric permittivity, the elastic constants and the viscosity coefficients of nematic liquid crystals. Emphasis is on typical results that have been obtained, and the possibilities and problems connected with a molecular interpretation. In particular an attempt is made to distinguish in the macroscopic quantity the influence of the molecular properties involved, of the direct temperature dependence, and of the dependence on the orientational order (indirect temperature dependence).