Liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) have a wide range of uses, from strong engineering plastics to delicate gels for use in liquid crystal (LC) displays. For this reason, it is essential reading for materials scientists, engineers or technologists in industry, as well as research laboratories or academia. An additional indexed section containing several hundred abstracts from the Rapra Polymer Library database gives useful references for further reading.

Azobenzene is an unusual "regular" molecule with fascinating possibilities and endless surprises. The mono- and multilayer behavior of azobenzene-containing materials, the photoinduced motion, and the possibility of massive material displacement well below the glass transition temperature open yet new avenues of research and applications. This book contains oral and poster presentations of the symposium "Azobenzene-Containing materials" held at Boston ACS Fall Meeting 1998. It will help people understand why is this subject so fascinating and it will attract even more researchers to the area.

Liquid crystals have attracted scientific attention for potential applications in advanced devices. Display technology is continuously growing and expanding and, as such, this book provides an overview of the most recent advances in liquid crystals and displays. Chapters cover such topics as nematic liquid crystals, active matrix organic light-emitting diodes, and tetradentate platinum(II) emitters, among others.

This text is a primer for liquid crystals, polymers, rubber and elasticity. It is directed at physicists, chemists, material scientists, engineers and applied mathematicians at the graduate student level and beyond.

This is a monograph/text devoted to a detailed treatment of the optical, electro-optical and nonlinear optical properties of all the mesophases of liquid crystals and related processes, phenomena and application principles. Quantitative data on material and optical parameters spanning the ultraviolet, visible, infrared as well as the microwave regimes are presented along with detailed theoretical treatments of basic liquid crystal physics, material properties and nonlinear optics.Starting with a discussion on the basic building blocks of liquid crystalline molecules, the authors proceed to present in a pedagogical manner current theories, experiments, and applications of these unique and important optical properties of liquid crystals. Numerous tables of hard-to-find liquid crystalline parameters, a self-contained chapter on general nonlinear optics, and comprehensive literature review are also included.

Among the various new directions in modern polymer science, the design and investigation of liquid crystal (LC) polymers have been the ones growing most actively and fruitfully. In spite of that, the possible formation of an anisotropic LC phase was only demonstrated theoretically for the first time in the 1950s by Onsager [1] and Flory [2], and then experimentally verified in the studies with polypeptides solutions. In essence, the studies of these LC lyotropic systems did not deviate from the theme of purely academic interest. It was at the beginning of the 1970s that the experimental "explosion" occurred, when aromatic polyamides were synthesized and their ability to form LC solutions in certain very aggressive solvents was discovered. The search for practical applications of such LC systems was crowned with the successful creation of the new generation of ultrastrong high-modulus ther mostable fibers, such as the Kevlar, due to the high degree of order of the macromolecules in the anisotropic LC state. In fact, these investigations coincided with the swift emergence on the practical "scene" of thermotropic low-molar-mass liquid crystals, with the use of these materials in microelectronics and electro optics (figures and let ters indicators, displays in personal computers, and flat TV, etc.). Polymer scientists also began to develop methods of synthesizing thermotropic LC polymers by incorporating mesogenic fragments in the main (main-chain LC polymers) or side branchings of the macromolecules (side-chain or comb shaped polymers).

During the last two decades silicon-containing dendritic polymers have become one of the fastest growing areas of development in polymer science. The eruption of interest in these new polymers stems from their unprecedented molecular architecture, unique resulting properties and the realization that they represent ideal building blocks for chemical nanotechnology. This is the first book to solely focus on silicon-containing dendritic polymers. The contributions of those experts who originally introduced each field or played a major role in its progress are reported. The developments in all major areas of this field are presented from their origins to the present. It is anticipated that this text will become an invaluable guide and vanguard of reference for experienced scientists interested in the fields of polymer and material science, synthetic chemistry, and nanotechnology. It will also serve advanced graduate students either as a source of creative inspiration or as a textbook for appropriate courses.