David M. Walba - US grants

Asymetric hydroboration is a powerful method for the construction of structurally diverse organic compounds in optically active form. We are investigating the design and synthesis of monomeric chiral boranes and their use in asymmetric hydroboration. We have prepared a prototypical monomeric reagent which is now readily available in quantity and in very high chemical and optical purity. This internally-coordinated alkyl chloroborane ether complex is a valuable reagent for asymmetric hydroboration of simple alkenes. Herein we propose several important extensions of our current work. We will seek to develop a simple, general procedure for obtaining optically pure materials by purification of the diastereomeric intermedies generated in our hydroboration reactions. In two cases studied thus far we have obtained optically pure alcohols in good overall yield. The (+) enantiomer of our chloroborane reagent will be pepared. To this end we will devise a synthesis of (+)-nopol from the abundant (+) enantiomer of Alpha-pinene. The B-deuterio analog of the chloroborane will be synthesized using the previously unknown reagent C1BD2-SMe2. Stereospecifically deuterated, optically active alcohols and carbonyl compounds will thereby become readily available. Asymmetric hydroborations of allylic alcohol derivatives will be systematically investigated. These studies should furnish valuable insights concerning electronic effects on the efficiency of asymmetric induction, and will also provide a group of particularly valuable structures as products. We have found that our reagent can be employed in asymmetric cyclic hydroborations of dienes. Hydroborations of this type have not been reported previously and will be extensively investigated. Modified reagents will be prepared in order to probe the mechanism of the hydroborations, which cannot be elucidated from kinetic studies. Molecular mechanics calcuations will also be employed to evaluate possible pathways. To explore the utility of asymmetric hydroboration in functionalized, complex systems with preexisting chirality, we propose a synthesis of the erythronolide A seco acid. In our approach, asymmetric hydroborations are used to generate eight of the eleven sterogenic carbon atoms.

With support from both the Organic Dynamics Program, Division of Chemistry and the Solid State Chemistry and Polymers Program, Division of Materials Research, Dr. Walba will study the design, synthesis, and characterization of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLC), a new class of thermodynamically stable, ordered organic materials. The targets of the synthetic effort are designed to possess useful properties for photonic devices, e.g., fast-switching, high resolution and high contrast FLC light valves and ultrafast nonlinear optical devices. Specific projects include the following: (i) synthesis of chiral fluorinated alkylbenzoates and atropisomeric FLCs and evaluation of their FLC properties; (ii) synthesis and evalua- tion of the nonlinear optical properties of new FLC films; (iii) empirical force field modelling of FLC components (i.e., computerization of the binding site model); (iv) polarization- sensitive IR spectroscopic studies of the FLC self assembly in thin films. While the powerful techniques of regio- and sterocontrolled organic synthesis and conformational analysis give considerable control over the constitution and spatial relationships between atoms in organic molecules, the directed design of new materials (i.e., molecular aggregates) with specific geometric relationships between functional arrays of atoms is an exciting frontier in chemistry. An important goal of this project takes advantage of the self-assembly that occurs in ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLCs) to create in a controlled and general manner organic materials that possess thermodynamically stable polar order. With this objective in mind, a simple stereochemical model for the molecular level origins of the polar order that occurs in FLCs is developed and tested via a program of research that focusses upon the design, synthesis, and characterization of new FLC materials.

The proposed research is concerned with the study of ferroelectric liquid crystals (FLC). A program of research is proposed that includes FLC microscopic modeling, chemical synthesis, and material evaluation. The proposed studies are directed toward understanding how molecules self organize in liquid crystal phases, and toward developing new FLCs for electro-optic and nonlinear optic applications. These studies are significant because there are opportunities to advance the basic physics and material design of liquid crystals, and to develop new liquid crystal materials for electro-optic and nonlinear optic applications. This Materials Synthesis and Processing proposal has been funded jointly by the Division of Materials Research and the Chemistry Division.

A new class of second order nonlinear optical (NLO) materials has been developed: X(2) ferro- electric liquid crystals (FLCs). Conventional FLCs readily form low- light-loss polar films in a wide range of thicknesses, and have been demonstrated as optical waveguides. The new X(2) FLCs combine the processibility of conventional FLCs with thermodynamically stable NLO susceptibility of useful magnitude. In addition, optical properties such as birefringence, dielectric permittivity, and NLO properties are highly customizable by chemical synthesis and mixing. In this Small Grant for Exploratory Research, the attractive possibility of using centimeter long, um inner diameter capillary tubes filled with X(2) FLCs for optical parametric processes will be investigated. Key questions which will be answered in this work include the following: 1) What is the intrinsic director structure in the capillary tubes--is the polarization vector field polar, and how can it be controlled? 2) What are possible phase matching schemes for FLC-cored optical waveguides? FLC alignment in capillary tubes will be examined experimentally, and the effect of FLC material parameters such as liquid crystal phase sequence, helix pitch, tilt angle, and capillary tube preparation on alignment characteristics will be determined. Using director alignment information, second harmonic generation processes will be accurately modeled by solving the wave equation with position dependent relative permittivity and nonlinear polarizability. Finally, frequency doubling of near-infrared radiation using the X(2) FLC mixture Displaytech MX-5679 in um inner diameter, centimeter long capillary tubes will be investigated experimentally.

9224168 Clark This award is to start a new Materials Research Group at the University of Colorado at Boulder on the topic of ferroelectric liquid crystals. The research is organized in three main activities: synthesis of new materials, fundamental physics of ferroelectric liquid crystals, and modeling of the molecular structure and physical properties. The synthesis activity includes making of new monomer, polymer, and gel ferroelectric liquid crystals to explore the molecular origins of particular property characteristics, to test predictions from the modeling, and to develop new electro-optic and nonlinear optical materials. The physics activity emphasizes evaluation of the relevant physical properties of the materials, structure of the phases, and dynamics of the phase transformations. Included in this activity are x-ray scattering, optical microscopy, time-dependent optical and vibrational spectroscopy, molecular conformational dynamics, dielectric relaxation, scanning tunneling microscopy, and optical reflectivity. The modeling activity includes molecular dynamic simulations of molecular arrangements and conformation, and calculation of measurable macroscopic properties. Ferroelectric liquid crystals offer exceptional capabilities in electro-optic applications, such as electrically operated light valves having microsecond response times, high contrast intrinsic memory, low power consumption displays, and nonlinear optical materials. The materials research group offers excellent educational opportunities for multi- disciplinary training of advanced students for research and teaching.

9803098 Clark This award provides support to create a regional x-ray diffration facility on the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado. This facility will fill a critical need on the Colorado Front Range for high resolution, high intensity laboratory-based x-ray diffraction. This facility will be set up, operated, and maintained by the Condensed Matter Laboratory of the Department of Physics, and will be made available to materials research groups on the University of Colorado campus and the Colorado Front Range. The instrument will be versatile, allowing both high and low resolution diffraction, will accomodate large sample chambers, including cryostats, ovens, and magnetic fields, enabling experimentation over a wide range of sample temperatures, and will include an area detector, for static as well as time-resolved diffraction. The x-ray generator is a rotating anode system which provides two equivalent, point source x-ray beams. One beam will be directed to a 4 cycle diffractometer and scintillation detector for performing theta - two theta or h-k-l scanned diffraction. The other beam will be used in conjuction with an area detector for single crystallography, small angle x-ray scattering, and time-resolved experiments. Each beam path/sample holder/detector assembly will be mounted on its own optical table and will be independently controlled by its own computer, a configuration that will enable two experiments to be performed simultaneously. This acquisition has broad support among the regional materials science community, with users from several University of Colorado Departments, including Physics, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Geology, as well as from industry and the major Front Range research institutions, including NIST, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University, and University of Wyoming. Ongoing and new Research projects proposed by the PIs and ini tial roster of users represent a broad spectrum of field defining condensed phase research. Experiments are proposed in the following areas: structural analysis of liquid crystals, high Tc superconductors, laser-deposited metal oxide thin films, new liquid crystal materials development, structure of ion-selective membranes, development of atomic layer controlled film growth techniques, characterization of ribozyme - cationic lipid complexes for transfection of cells with RNA-based enzymes, structure of phospholipid phases and tubules, reflectivity studies of polymeric interfaces, characterization of polymer/monomer -liquid crystal composites, characterization of ceramic coatings and films. The diffractometer system will be clustered with several other materials characterization instruments and operated as a self-supporting user facility maintained by a trained staff member under the direction of the Physics CML Facilities Committee. %%% ***

This award to Drs. David Walba and Joseph Maclennan of the University of Colorado at Boulder is jointly supported by the Advanced Materials and Processing Program in the Chemistry Division and the Solid State Chemistry Program in the Division of Materials Research. The focus of the award will be to study and develop the basic mechanisms of optically bistable and photo-switchable molecular schemes in self-assembled monolayers for ferroelectric liquid crystal alignments. Synthesis of self-assembled monolayers of azo-dye units oriented parallel to the substrates that can be aligned using linearly polarized UV radiation will be studied under this award. Photo-activated homogeneous alignment of liquid crystal - photo buffing - in place of traditional mechanical buffing or rubbing will also be carried out under this award. Teaching and training of students in materials science are parts of the award.

Under this award, self-assembled monolayers will be designed and developed from photoisomerizable azo groups and attached to bookshelf structures of ferroelectric liquid crystals. Photo-activated alignments of liquid crystals planned under this award will eliminate the traditional mechanical rubbing in the manufacturing process of active matric liquid crystal devices. In addition, this process if technologically exploited will result in reduced manufacturing costs, enhanced contrast and depth of images, and improved yield and quality control of the display devices. In addition, the research program will provide a rich multidisciplinary education and training opportunity in materials chemistry to postdoctoral and graduate students

Interest in a class of new class of liquid crystal materials referred to as banana liquid crystals is presently very high among the chemistry, physics and liquid crystal device community. A workshop to be held in the Fall of 2002 will be hosted by the Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, an NSF MRSEC at the University of Colorado at Boulder to address important and timely research issues that have recently emerged. This will include discussing and agreeing on a much needed classification system to replace the existing convention based on order of discovery. The funds will be used to assist junior faculty, post-docs, and graduate students to attend and present their own research.

The liquid crystal community continues to have direct impact on education and the development of new materials for technological advances of high significance to society. The latter include the development of novel electro optic devices of high commercial interest.

A joint program of research between the Liquid Crystal Laboratory (LICRYL) at the University of Calabria, Italy's largest liquid crystal (LC) research center, and the Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center (FLCMRC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder, an NSF-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), is proposed. The requested funding will enable scientific collaboration on a broad range of forefront liquid crystal research, combining the complementary capabilities of the two Centers into an entity uniquely capable of advancing LC and soft matter science and technology. The collective research expertise will be brought to bear on projects having liquid crystal - light and liquid crystal - interface interactions as the principal overall themes, addressing such key problems as the alignment and anchoring of smectics on surfaces, an area of great technical importance, and the photo-alignment of liquid crystals, a promising route to the development of photo-addressed devices. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity derives from the technological importance of the proposed research, the broad range of fundamental scientific questions to be addressed, and the unique and complementary areas of expertise brought to bear through the joint efforts of the two Centers. The exchange of graduate students will expose young scientists to different research cultures and provide them with technical training in cutting-edge research techniques. The educational benefits of the program will extend beyond the graduate researchers to K-12 students served through the Centers' outreach programs. Given the wide variety of potential applications of the proposed research, it is likely that this collaboration will engender technology transfer to the private sector both in the U.S. and in Italy.
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The Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center (FLCMRC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder, an NSF-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), is proposing a joint program of research with the Liquid Crystal Laboratory (LICRYL) at the University of Calabria, Italy's largest liquid crystal (LC) research center. The FLCMRC, which is one of the principal centers of liquid crystal expertise in the US and a unique venue worldwide for research on polarity and chirality and their interplay in condensed phases, will use this funding to further develop and enhance a program of joint research and Ph.D. student support begun with Calabria in 1997. The Centers will collaborate on a broad range of forefront liquid crystal research, combining their complementary research capabilities into an entity uniquely capable of advancing liquid crystal and soft matter science and technology, with an emphasis on understanding liquid crystal - substrate interactions and on developing novel optically addressed devices. The broader impacts of the proposed activity in the areas of education and industrial outreach and human resource development will be substantial, augmenting and enhancing ongoing programs at the two Centers such as the CU/UC International Ph.D. Program and the FLCMRC's highly successful Materials Science from CU program of K-12 science enrichment classes. The planned exchange of graduate students provides a unique opportunity for the professional development and cultural enrichment of young researchers, both inside and outside the laboratory. The Centers both have track records of substantive technology transfer, including spin-off commercial ventures producing liquid crystal display products and scientific equipment. Given the wide variety of potential applications of the proposed research, it is likely that this collaboration will engender technology transfer to the private sector both in the U.S. and in Italy in novel LC applications areas of high interest such as ultranonlinear optics, photorefractive effects, device structures created by photopolymerization, and ultra-low power bistable nematic display cells.

In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Profs. Matthew A. Glaser, Meredith D. Betterton, Noel A. Clark, Joseph E. Maclennan and David M. Walba of the University of Colorado and their graduate research students will design and synthesize light-driven molecular motors. The work will be based upon specific small-molecule versions of Brownian ratchets. The specific systems to be employed will be photolabile molecules deposited on well-characterized, low-symmetry substrates. These systems are analogous to biological motor systems.

The potential impact of working, light-driven molecular motors is significant. They might find use in nanoscale rotors, shuttles and switches, artificial muscle systems, chiral separation and detection systems, and ratchet-based force microscopies. The students working on this project will gain experience working on a potentially high-impact project in an intensely interdisciplinary environment.

****Nontechnical abstract****
The research of the Soft Materials Research Center, SMRC is organized into two Interdisciplinary Research Groups: Liquid Crystal Frontiers (LCF), and Click Nucleic Acids (CNA). LCF research is directed toward the creation, understanding, development, and application of novel soft materials, with liquid crystal ordering as an underlying theme. This IRG expands the horizons and application of LC science in exciting new ways, evolving materials that are active, functional, and responsive. These attributes, long appreciated in LCs, including LC display electro-optics, will be sought in new structural manifestations and applications of soft materials. The CNA IRG proposes an exciting new area that uses broadly accessible thiol-ene click chemistries, a family of chemistries know for their robust, clean reactions, to link nucleic acids thus developing synthetic analogs of DNA called CNAs. An advantage of CNAs is that they have a greater range of chemical properties than those exhibited by natural nucleic acids. The SMRC operates and continues to develop nationally recognized education outreach activities directed toward the enhancement of science literacy and achievement. These include Materials Science from CU, K-12 traveling science classes that have reached ~80,000 CO students; Pathways Programs which facilitate the passage of under-represented minority students from high school to undergraduate success, and partnerships with under-represented minority-serving undergraduate institutions transitioning undergraduate students toward STEM graduate careers. The Center has nucleated a vibrant Boulder/Denver industrial activity of LC-related start-up and spin-off companies, many employing Center graduates, with achievements that include commercialization of LC-On-Si (LCOS) microdisplays.

****Technical abstract****
The Liquid Crystal Frontiers (LCF), and Click Nucleic Acids (CNA) IRGs meld materials design, synthesis, modeling, and physical study into a seamless web that drives and facilitates the evolution of new materials. Of particular interest in LCF research are new LC structural themes that exploit the interplay of chirality and polarity, such as the heliconical nematic and helical nanofilament phases; novel LC phases of colloidal plates and rods including ferromagnetic nematics; LC interaction with topologically complex colloids; nanoporous LC polymers for electrolytes and organic photovoltaics; active interfacial LCs for biodetection; chromonic LC mixtures; and hierarchical self-assembly of nanoDNA. IRG2, the CNA IRG, will pursue the opportunities presented by CNA with a synthetic approach that focuses on the development of highly scalable synthetic processes for CNAs, on expansion of the base alphabets, and on control of the backbone and side chains to tailor molecular compatibility. The CNA self-assembly thrust will emphasize taking advantage of the enhanced programmability and design flexibility afforded by CNAs, in applications including nanotemplating and nanopatterning, nanoparticle organization, block copolymers, and hydrogels. The SMRC operates and continues to develop nationally recognized education outreach activities directed toward the enhancement of science literacy and achievement. The Center has nucleated a vibrant Boulder/Denver industrial activity of LC-related start-up and spin-off companies, many employing Center graduates, with achievements that include commercialization of LC-On-Si (LCOS) microdisplays.

This Materials World Network award supports a joint research project on chiral/polar liquid crystals showing fast analog electrooptics activity between investigators at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, the University of Stuttgart, Germany, Queen's University, Canada, and the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom. The research focus is on exotic chiral and polar smectics: the "V-shaped switching" smectic C's with the most rapid analog liquid crystal electro-optic effects; the "de Vries" materials exhibiting analog behavior via extended molecular tilt correlations in the smectic A phase; the closely related "orthoconic" high-tilt antiferroelectrics; and bent-core liquid crystals with a polar smectic A phase that give phase-only electrooptic modulation.

The research highlights fundamental studies of structure-property relationships of these novel liquid crystal systems, with ramifications for a variety of areas in soft materials science. The corresponding materials development will enable a range of novel applications, including holographic data storage and projection, beam steering, and chirality detection. Exchange visits of junior researchers and faculty promotes cultural diversity and the professional development of the participants. The partner groups will share and adapt appropriate outreach materials, including modules for K-12 science enrichment classes.

This collaborative project brings together faculty and scientists at the University of Denver and the University of Colorado at Boulder to study new materials and concepts in organic photovoltaics (OPV). It combines new mathematical methods to describe photonic processes with novel plasmonic nanostructures for enhancing optical absorption and new organic semiconductors for control of exciton flow and charge carrier dynamics. The theoretical foundations of linear and nonlinear processes in surface plasmons and their interactions with organic chromophores are explored, and the interplay between surface plasmons and Förster Resonant Energy Transfer (FRET) is investigated. New organic molecules are synthesized that incorporate graphenic and other moieties with exceptional charge transport and excited-state properties along with liquid-crystalline functionality for improved molecular ordering. The overall goal is to enhance the density of excitons created in OPV devices to enable higher efficiencies as well as coherent control of excited state dynamics and multiexciton phenomena. The work entails significant collaborations with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the University of Toronto.

This project aims to advance the fundamental knowledge of OPV materials and mechanisms and to provide impetus for moving OPV to the broader market as a low-cost solar energy technology that can be produced on a truly large scale. The interdisciplinary nature of the project gives graduate students and postdoctoral trainees exposure to a variety of research settings and fosters their learning and career growth. The project generates educational materials that are broadly disseminated through websites and through the National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Digital Library (NSDL). Outreach activities for local high school science teachers in the Denver and Boulder areas enable hands-on experience with intensive workshops on solar energy and nanotechnology. Demonstrations, exhibits, and instructional materials are provided to Colorado institutions such as the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum and the Mamie Dowd Eisenhower Library.

TECHNICAL
The study of bent-core molecules is currently a principal driving force in the advance of the basic science of liquid crystals, uncovering a host of exotic new soft matter structural themes and unexpected behavior, including the appearance of spontaneous polar ordering and chirality. This project, suppported by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry and Condensed Matter Physics Programs will first pursue an important emerging new direction for exploration of the bent-core theme: orthogonal ferroelectric smectics, in which the liquid crystal molecules are oriented perpendicular to the layer planes in lamellar phases. The work focuses on design, synthesis, and characterization of new bent-core smectics, with the long-term goal of developing an understanding of the molecular structure-supramolecular property relationships in this highly interesting self-assembling soft matter system. Based upon the history of the liquid crystal field, the discovery of new soft-matter phenomena in the course of this research could lead to new applications with significant impact on the economy and jobs creation. Education and training of undergraduates and graduate students is also an important aspect of the work, and a strong K-12 and undergraduate outreach activity is integrated into the program. In all of these education and outreach activities, a key focus is increasing diversity (gender and ethnic) at the undergraduate, graduate, and faculty levels

NON TECHNICAL
Liquid crystal science has revolutionized modern society, driving the creations of critically important, and perhaps the most visible, components of smart phones, other portable computers, and televisions. The liquid crystals themselves are mixtures of organic molecules with carefully selected combinations of properties, enabling the magic of modern flat panel screens. Perhaps the most fundamental scientific issue in this regard is the relationship between the structure of the molecules, and the properties of the liquid crystal phases, which are necessarily composed of large numbers of molecules, and which self assemble to form useful materials. This project seeks to understand these structure-property relationships in a liquid crystal system at the frontiers of the field, allowing the creation of new materials enabling innovation of advanced devices such as holographic projectors and ultrafast switches for the internet.
Based upon the history of the field, the discovery of new liquid crystal phenomena in the course of this research could lead to such new applications, with significant impact on the economy and jobs creation. Education and training of undergraduates and graduate students is also an important aspect of the work, and a strong K-12 and undergraduate outreach activity is integrated into the program. In all of these education and outreach activities, a key focus is increasing diversity (gender and ethnic) at the undergraduate, graduate, and faculty levels.

NONTECHNICAL ABSTRACT
The packing of odd-shaped three dimensional objects can lead to steric frustration, meaning that it's hard to fill space. If the objects are molecules, however, thermal agitation samples all of the packing possibilities, either finding unexpected new arrangements or remaining disorganized. A recently discovered example of this is the heliconical nematic phase, a liquid in which banana-shaped molecules fill space by arranging themselves into molecular-scale helical structures. In this project bent molecules will be designed and synthesized and their phase behavior studied with the goal of exploring the geometrical and statistical principles that govern how such steric frustration is accommodated in materials. The resulting design criteria would have wide ranging applications in the development of new materials based on the control and use of steric frustration. This project will provide its junior scientists (undergraduate student, graduate student, and postdoctoral researchers) with opportunities to participate in broadly interdisciplinary research in an exciting area of soft materials science.

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT
Rod-shaped molecules form nematic liquid crystal phases, three dimensional fluids in which steric packing of rods induces long-range orientational order in thermal equilibrium. But introducing a simple chemical change to make the rods bent in shape produces an exotic new (heliconical nematic) phase in which the molecules spontaneously organize into chiral helical lattices of varying molecular orientation and nanoscale periodicity. The project hypothesis is that these distinctive new structures are a result of steric frustration: the bent molecular shape creates pockets of space which are difficult to fill, thereby attracting the most strongly fluctuating molecular sub-components. This newly formulated organizing principle will be explored in a broad-based, coordinated program of molecular design, chemical synthesis, physical characterization, and computer simulation of heliconical nematic phases. In particular, resonant soft x-ray scattering will be used to characterize their nanoscale orientational structure, and will be extended to probe molecular orientational fluctuations at the nanoscale. What is learned will be applied to a variety of soft matter systems, including liquid crystals, polymers and nanofabrications, with the intention of creating broadly useful, powerful means of probing and understanding nanoscale molecular orientational dynamics. The strong collective nanoscale chirality of the heliconical nematic phase makes it attractive for application in separation of enantiomers of chiral guest molecules, and as a templating medium for asymmetric synthesis. These applications of the heliconical nematic phase will be explored.

Nontechnical Abstract:
Ferroelectric nematics are fluids of essentially rod-shaped molecules that spontaneously organize into domains with macroscopic polar order. The recent discovery of this liquid crystal phase has created an opportunity to probe and understand the appearance of spontaneous polarization in a broad range of soft materials, including polymers, biomaterials, liquid crystals and colloids. The polar nature of the ferroelectric nematic makes it attractive for a host of novel applications, including electrooptical and non-linear optical devices, and will lead to new discoveries in the science and applications of nematic liquid crystals. This project offers excellent opportunities for undergraduate research participation and internships for minority high school students.

Technical Abstract:
The ferroelectric nematic (FN) is a new and essentially unexplored fluid state that occurs below the conventional nematic phase of liquid crystals, combining orientational order and spontaneous polarization for the first time in any homogeneous three-dimensional fluid. The estimated FN polarization density is larger than many solid state ferroelectrics, its magnitude implying almost perfect polar alignment of the nematic molecular dipoles. Because of their large spontaneous polarization, FN materials give a facile, rapid orientational response to applied electric fields, giving virtually every nematic effect and application a new dimension. A broad-based, coordinated effort of molecular design, synthesis, and physical characterization will be pursued to characterize the ferroelectric nematic state and to evolve an understanding of its nanoscale origins, emergent mesoscopic properties, and potential applications. Experimental methods including electro-optic studies, x-ray scattering, optical and SHG microscopy, and dielectric spectroscopy will be used to characterize FN molecular organization, macroscopic structure, and field response dynamics. Continuum modeling will be developed to describe a new regime of nematic elasto-hydrodynamics where polarization space charge stabilization becomes a dominant player.

This Division of Materials Research (DMR) grant supports research to understand ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals with funding from the Condensed Matter Physics (CMP) program in DMR of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.