Article
Article
Liquid crystals
Article By:
Lavrentovich, Oleg D. Liquid Crystals Institute and Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.386300
A state of matter with an orientational order of building units—individual molecules or their aggregates—and complete or partial absence of the long-range positional order. Liquid crystals, discovered more than 100 years ago, are one of the best-studied classes of soft matter, along with colloids, polymer solutions and melts, gels, and foams.
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