Michael Fisch
Kent State University at Kent, OH·Physics
Liquid crystals are materials that flow like liquids but keep some of the orderly alignment of crystals, which is why they can switch light in displays. Almost all current technology relies on molecules shaped like rods, modeled as a pencil sharpened at both ends.
- Fields
Physics
Materials Science
Chemistry
- Topics
liquid crystals
bent-core mesogens
bimesogens
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2027
What they work on
- Synthesize new bent-core, bimesogen and twisted-core mesogens designed to form the recently discovered twist-bend, splay-bend, splay and ferroelectric nematic phases.
- Identify which liquid crystal phases each new material forms and the temperatures of the transitions between them, including any polar smectic (layered) phases that appear.
- Characterize the structure and physical properties of these polar nematic and smectic phases using X-ray and Raman scattering, infrared spectroscopy, birefringence, wideband dielectric spectroscopy and second harmonic generation.
- Fabricate test cells with well-oriented molecules and measure how electric, magnetic, surface-anchoring and flow fields reorient the material, both to extract physical properties and to assess device applications.
More about the research
Over the past decade or so, molecules with a bend in them, more like a hockey stick, have been found to form entirely new kinds of ordered liquid phases whose properties are barely explored. The question driving this work is how molecular shape determines which phase forms and what physical properties follow, with an eye toward photonic, energy storage and switching applications.
Why it matters
The new polar liquid crystal phases formed by bent molecules are largely uncharacterized, so linking molecular structure to phase behavior and measurable properties fills a basic gap in soft matter physics and chemistry. Because these phases respond strongly to electric fields and can carry a built-in polarization, the structure-property data and aligned test cells could inform future photonic, energy storage and electrical switching devices.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Antal Jakli
Kent State University at Kent, OH·Materials Science
Measure how linear electromechanical coupling in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals, the conversion between applied voltage and mechanical deformation, depends on the magnitude of spontaneous polarization and on nanoscale structure.
Kenneth Poeppelmeier
Northwestern University, IL·Chemistry
Develop targeted hydrothermal, solvothermal and solid-state synthesis methods that control how anionic building units align in oxide and oxide-fluoride crystals, so that crystals form without inversion symmetry.
Allyson Fry-Petit
California State University-Fullerton, CA·Chemistry
Reproduce the reported synthesis of LK-99, the claimed room-temperature superconductor, and use in situ diffraction during the reaction to identify every phase that forms, including unstable intermediates.
The school
Kent State University at Kent: 6 labs on PI Pages, $61M a year on research, 162 research doctorates a year.
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