ORGANOMETALLIC FERROELECTRIC LIQUID CRYSTALS Ⅰ. LIQUID CRYSTAL PROPERTIES OF ORTHO—PALLADATED BINUCLEAR COMPLEXES OF AZINE, IMINE AND AZO DERIVATIVES

The mesomorphie properties of title complexes are investigated by means of DSC and polarizing microscopy. The mesophase temperature ranges of complexes are wider than that of corresponding organic ligands. The bridging groups of the complexes have profoand effects on the mesomorphic behavior, When the bridging groups are opticallhy active. the compleve show chiral smectic

Electro-optical properties of high birefringence liquid crystal compounds with isothiocyanate and naphthyl group

Liquid crystal（LC） compound with isothiocyanate and naphthyl group is an attractive high birefringence LC material,and can be used in optical devices. In this paper, the electro-optical properties of a series of this type of LC compounds were investigated. The melting points and enthalpy values of these LC compounds were higher than those of corresponding compounds with the phenyl group. These compounds exhibited high birefringence with a maximum value of 0.66. Fluorine substitution in the molecular almost does not affect the birefringence value. When these LC compounds with the naphthyl group were dissolved in a commercial LC mixture, the electro-optical properties depending on temperature were investigated. In the low-temperature region, LC mixtures with the naphthyl-group LC compounds exhibited higher viscosity than pure commercial LCs. In the high-temperature region, viscosity values very closely approached each other. When response performance was investigated, figure-of-merit（FoM） values were measured. The Fo M values of LC mixtures containing LC compounds with naphthyl group were lower than those of reference benzene LCs in the low-temperature region. However, in the high-temperature region, the results were reversed. These isothiocyanate LC compounds with naphthyl group can be applied in special fast-response LC device, particularly the ones used under high-temperature conditions.

Bridging the terahertz near-field and far-field observations of liquid crystal based metamaterial absorbers

Metamaterial-based absorbers play a significant role in applications ranging from energy harvesting and thermal emitters to sensors and imaging devices.The middle dielectric layer of conventional metamaterial absorbers has always been solid.Researchers could not detect the near field distribution in this layer or utilize it effectively.Here,we use anisotropic liquid crystal as the dielectric layer to realize electrically fast tunable terahertz metamaterial absorbers.We demonstrate strong,position-dependent terahertz near-field enhancement with sub-wavelength resolution inside the metamaterial absorber.We measure the terahertz far-field absorption as the driving voltage increases.By combining experimental results with liquid crystal simulations,we verify the near-field distribution in the middle layer indirectly and bridge the nearfield and far-field observations.Our work opens new opportunities for creating high-performance,fast,tunable,terahertz metamaterial devices that can be applied in biological imaging and sensing.

Synthesis, Mesogenic and Spectroscopic Properties of 2,5-Disubstituted Thiophene Derivatives

Two series of 2,5-disubstituted thiophene derivatives （series 1： 2,5-bis（p-alkoxyphenylethynyl）thiophene and series 2： 2,5-bis[p-（p-alkoxyphenylethynyl）（phenylethynyl）]thiophene） were synthesized and characterized by ^1H NMR, ^13C NMR, HRMS and elemental analysis. The relationship between the structure and the mesogenic and spectroscopic properties has been discussed. The results show that compounds 1a-1f all exhibited an enantiotropic nematic mesophase, which was confirmed by the polarized optical microscopy （POM）, differential scanning calorimeter （DSC） and variable temperature powder X-ray diffraction （PXRD）. In contrast, the extended conjugated analogues 2a-2b had no liquid crystal properties. As for the spectroscopic properties, incorporating more phenylethynyl units results in red-shifted absorption and emission spectra, greatly enhanced quantum efficiency.