Non-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and DNA lyotropic chiral nematics

Abstract Throughout the whole history of liquid crystals science, the balancing of intrinsic elasticity with coupling to external forces has been the key strategy for most application and investigation. While the coupling of the optical field to the nematic director is at the base of a wealth of tho...

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Autores principales:	Liana Lucchetti, Tommaso P. Fraccia, Fabrizio Ciciulla, Tommaso Bellini
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1cb50ea554d145c0b280a9eb2c2922e4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1cb50ea554d145c0b280a9eb2c2922e42021-12-02T16:06:45ZNon-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and DNA lyotropic chiral nematics10.1038/s41598-017-05136-z2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/1cb50ea554d145c0b280a9eb2c2922e42017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05136-zhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Throughout the whole history of liquid crystals science, the balancing of intrinsic elasticity with coupling to external forces has been the key strategy for most application and investigation. While the coupling of the optical field to the nematic director is at the base of a wealth of thoroughly described optical effects, a significant variety of geometries and materials have not been considered yet. Here we show that by adopting a simple cell geometry and measuring the optically induced birefringence, we can readily extract the twist elastic coefficient K22 of thermotropic and lyotropic chiral nematics (N). The value of K22 we obtain for chiral doped 5CB thermotropic N well matches those reported in the literature. With this same strategy, we could determine for the first time K22 of the N* phase of concentrated aqueous solutions of DNA oligomers, bypassing the limitations that so far prevented measuring the elastic constants of this class of liquid crystalline materials. The present study also enlightens the significant nonlinear optical response of DNA liquid crystals.Liana LucchettiTommaso P. FracciaFabrizio CiciullaTommaso BelliniNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Liana Lucchetti Tommaso P. Fraccia Fabrizio Ciciulla Tommaso Bellini Non-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and DNA lyotropic chiral nematics
description	Abstract Throughout the whole history of liquid crystals science, the balancing of intrinsic elasticity with coupling to external forces has been the key strategy for most application and investigation. While the coupling of the optical field to the nematic director is at the base of a wealth of thoroughly described optical effects, a significant variety of geometries and materials have not been considered yet. Here we show that by adopting a simple cell geometry and measuring the optically induced birefringence, we can readily extract the twist elastic coefficient K22 of thermotropic and lyotropic chiral nematics (N). The value of K22 we obtain for chiral doped 5CB thermotropic N well matches those reported in the literature. With this same strategy, we could determine for the first time K22 of the N* phase of concentrated aqueous solutions of DNA oligomers, bypassing the limitations that so far prevented measuring the elastic constants of this class of liquid crystalline materials. The present study also enlightens the significant nonlinear optical response of DNA liquid crystals.
format	article
author	Liana Lucchetti Tommaso P. Fraccia Fabrizio Ciciulla Tommaso Bellini
author_facet	Liana Lucchetti Tommaso P. Fraccia Fabrizio Ciciulla Tommaso Bellini
author_sort	Liana Lucchetti
title	Non-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and DNA lyotropic chiral nematics
title_short	Non-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and DNA lyotropic chiral nematics
title_full	Non-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and DNA lyotropic chiral nematics
title_fullStr	Non-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and DNA lyotropic chiral nematics
title_full_unstemmed	Non-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and DNA lyotropic chiral nematics
title_sort	non-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and dna lyotropic chiral nematics
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/1cb50ea554d145c0b280a9eb2c2922e4
work_keys_str_mv	AT lianalucchetti nonlinearopticalmeasurementofthetwistelasticconstantinthermotropicanddnalyotropicchiralnematics AT tommasopfraccia nonlinearopticalmeasurementofthetwistelasticconstantinthermotropicanddnalyotropicchiralnematics AT fabriziociciulla nonlinearopticalmeasurementofthetwistelasticconstantinthermotropicanddnalyotropicchiralnematics AT tommasobellini nonlinearopticalmeasurementofthetwistelasticconstantinthermotropicanddnalyotropicchiralnematics
_version_	1718384827832467456

Non-linear optical measurement of the twist elastic constant in thermotropic and DNA lyotropic chiral nematics

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