Publisher's Synopsis
The need to create materials for optical electronic systems has dictated the development of a rigorous quantitative theory and a search for new physical effects. In this monograph, Pikin generalizes data on the theory of structural instabilities. In Part A, he describes nondissipative changes in the liquid crystalline structure. He systematizes the thermodynamic states of liquid crystals based on the theory of symmetry groups and irreducible representations, determines the corresponding parameters of the phase transitions, classifies the types of thermodynamic instabilities, and describes the properties of modulated structures arising as a result of each type of instability. Part B, the theory of the modulated structures in a dissipative anisotropic mediums, gives the basis for the continuum approach to the description of instabilities in such a medium constructs a precise theory of the formation of weakly inhomogeneous structures, and studies real nonlinear models of instabilities of liquid crystals. The exact results obtained are used to give a qualitative description of orientational turbulence in a liquid crystalline medium characterized by strong structural inhomogeneity.;Intended for theoretical physicists, experimentalists and engineers who must calculate the characteristics of optical systems, this text could also benefit undergraduate and graduate students specializing in this and related fields.
