Dr Maclennan's research interests center on determining the structure and electro-optic properties of ferroelectric liquid crystals, including bent-core and de Vries type materials, and on understanding the textures and phase transitions of freely-suspended liquid crystal films, including the ordering behavior of islands and liquid droplets. Self-assembled monolayers and topographically patterned surfaces are being studied as novel liquid crystal alignment surfaces. He has developed extensive computer code for modeling the optical response of liquid crystals in applied fields and the reorientation dynamics of azo-SAMs.
keywords
condensed matter physics and materials science, liquid crystals, ferroelectrics, optoelectronics, thin films
