Search results for "liquid"

Beyond the dilute Bose gas

2006

Abstract We discuss problems of three dimensional Bose gases in interaction but non-dilute. We then use the theory of a “weakly interacting” Bose gas recently analyzed as an attempt to obtain further insights into non-dilute systems. In particular, we develop the theory with additional remarks, discussions and a slight modification. The article concludes with a much more detailed analysis of the Bose condensate depletion, as well as a study of the two-fluid model of Tisza and Landau: the coexistence of normal and superfluid liquids at sufficiently low temperatures. In fact, even if it is based on one debatable hypothesis, this non-dilute gas qualitatively leads, up to Landau's “ T 4 law”, t…

Pumped helium system for cooling positron and electron traps to 1.2 K

2011

Abstract Extremely precise tests of fundamental particle symmetries should be possible via laser spectroscopy of trapped antihydrogen ( H ¯ ) atoms. H ¯ atoms that can be trapped must have an energy in temperature units that is below 0.5 K—the energy depth of the deepest magnetic traps that can currently be constructed with high currents and superconducting technology. The number of atoms in a Boltzmann distribution with energies lower than this trap depth depends sharply upon the temperature of the thermal distribution. For example, ten times more atoms with energies low enough to be trapped are in a thermal distribution at a temperature of 1.2 K than for a temperature of 4.2 K. To date, H…

Computer simulation study of a liquid crystal confined to a spherical cavity.

2007

The interplay of surface ordering and elasticity can be studied on the example of a liquid crystal confined to a cavity. We present a computer simulation study of a liquid of hard spherocylinders in a hard spherical cavity. With increasing density, first a uniaxial surface film forms and then a biaxial surface film, which eventually fills the entire cavity. We studied how the surface order, the adsorption, and the shape of the director field depend on the curvature of the wall. We find that orientational ordering at a curved wall is stronger than at a flat wall, while adsorption is weaker. For densities above the isotropic-nematic transition, we always find bipolar configurations.

Textures in hexatic films of nonchiral liquid crystals: Symmetry breaking and modulated phases

1994

Novel modulated textures, such as stripes and multiarmed star defects, have been observed in freely suspended films of nonchiral liquid crystals just below the smectic-$C$ to hexatic phase transition. Detailed studies using depolarized reflection microscopy suggest that the stripes are locally chiral surface splay domains of the smectic-$L$ phase, a tilted hexatic not previously identified in thermotropic liquid crystals. Line defects which form additional domain walls in the hexatic lattice lead to characteristic modulations of the basic one-dimensional stripe pattern. Inside thick circular islands, for example, stripes form circumferentially and the lines form centered 12-armed stars, res…

Mechanical and optical properties of continuously spun fibres of a main-chain smectic A elastomer

2012

Oriented smectic liquid crystal elastomer fibres are prepared with a special wet-spinning technique. The continuous spinning process in principle allows the preparation of fibres with arbitrary length. In comparison to ordinary rubbers, they have unique mechanical properties that qualify them as potential candidates for mechanical actuator applications. We demonstrate that these fibres show a remarkable contraction and extension at the transition from the ordered smectic to the disordered isotropic phase. We characterise their most relevant physical properties, viz. the thermally driven shape changes, stress–strain relations and optical birefringence, by optical and mechanical measurements.

Magnetic forces in 2D foams

2005

The asymptotic expression for the ponderomotive force in the magnetic liquid film is derived and a role of the disjoining pressure in 2D magnetic foam formation is considered. New equation for the force balance at the vertex of 2D magnetic foam is proposed and modified Plateau rule for the films is obtained. The theoretical relation for the angle between films fits the experimental data for small magnetic Bond numbers very well.

Small-Angle Excess Scattering: Glassy Freezing or Local Orientational Ordering?

1996

We present Monte Carlo simulations of a dense polymer melt which shows glass-transition-like slowing-down upon cooling, as well as a build up of nematic order. At small wave vectors q this model system shows excess scattering similar to that recently reported for light-scattering experiments on some polymeric and molecular glass-forming liquids. For our model system we can provide clear evidence that this excess scattering is due to the onset of short-range nematic order and not directly related to the glass transition.

2017

Computer simulations are used to model the phase change that occurs as glasses transition from a liquid phase to a so-called ``ideal glass phase.''

ChemInform Abstract: Tuning the Defect Configurations in Nematic and Smectic Liquid Crystalline Shells

2013

Thin liquid crystalline shells surrounding and surrounded by aqueous phases can be conveniently produced using a nested capillary microfluidic system, as was first demonstrated by Fernandez-Nieves et al. in 2007. By choosing particular combinations of stabilizers in the internal and external phases, different types of alignment, uniform or hybrid, can be ensured within the shell. Here, we investigate shells in the nematic and smectic phases under varying boundary conditions, focusing in particular on textural transformations during phase transitions, on the interaction between topological defects in the director field and inclusions in the liquid crystal (LC), and on the possibility to relo…

Monte Carlo Study of the Isotropic-Nematic Interface in Suspensions of Spherocylinders

2007

The isotropic to nematic transition in suspensions of anisotropic colloids is studied by means of grand canonical Monte Carlo simulation. From measurements of the grand canonical probability distribution of the particle density, the coexistence densities of the isotropic and the nematic phase are determined, as well as the interfacial tension.