Phases and phase transitions

MAY 01, 1982

States of matter intermediate between liquids and solids have recently become of intense interest because of their important applications and their value in studying fundamental problems in statistical physics.

DOI: 10.1063/1.2915091

J. David Litster

Robert J. Birgeneau

In this first sentence of his seminal book “The Physics of Liquid Crystals,” Pierre Gilles de Gennes has succinctly stated the appeal that liquid crystals have for all of us working in this field. The term “liquid crystal,” in fact, refers to a number of distinct states of matter that have structural order intermediate between that of conventional liquids and solids.

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More about the authors

J. David Litster, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Robert J. Birgeneau, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.