Domain growth in liquid crystals
Reference no.: JAM/NJM1
Supervisors:
Date advertised: 6th February 2007
Please contact Dr John Mackenzie for further information.
Liquid crystal displays play an increasingly important role in today's world.
There is now a need for power efficient, high-definition small screens for hand-held devices such as mobile phones, personal organisers and internet access units and for large screen, space saving computer VDUs and televisions.
The main issues of importance to LCD manufacturers are, the ability to produce high speed switching to allow video images to be displayed, increased optical performance i.e better contrast and viewing angle, and power consumption, to extend the life-time of batteries in portable devices.
With this in mind, research is being undertaken in the Maths Department to understand fast switching processes and how defects affect switching.
One problem is that switching often occurs by domain growth and no one knows why the domains are "boat-shaped", how we can affect the shape of the domains, what governs the speed of growth of the domains and how zig-zag defects affect domain growth.
This project aims to model this system as a set of differential equations in order to answer these questions. The theory of liquid crystals that has been developed in the Maths Department will be used as well as state-of-the-art numerical techniques developed by the Numerical Analysis group.
This work involves numerically solving nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations governing the fluid flow, molecular orientation together with Maxwell's equations governing the electric field throughout the LCD and the behaviour of light through the display.
This PhD project will provide a postgraduate student with extensive training in model building, problem solving, fluid dynamics and a number of numerical techniques.
Thermal effects in dielectrophoretic devices for droplet manipulation
Reference no.: SKW1
Supervisors:
- Date advertised: 7th May 2012
- Closing date: 30th September 2012
- Start date: 1st October 2012
Please contact Professor Stephen Wilson for further information.
This exciting and challenging project builds on the supervisors’ recent prize-winning work on droplet evaporation to investigate temperature effects in layers and droplets of anisotropic liquids. Specifically, the project will undertake a theoretical investigation of the flow and interface dynamics in layers and droplets of liquid crystal in the presence of electric fields. The successful candidate will be a highly skilled and motivated applied mathematician with an enthusiasm for the mathematical modelling and analysis of “real world” problems.
The work will benefit greatly from synergies with the supervisors’ ongoing major EPSRC-funded research project on anisotropic liquid dielectrophoresis and interfacial forces supporting a postdoctoral research assistant working on the theoretical aspects of electrophoresis of nematic liquid crystals in close collaboration with a second postdoctoral research assistant working on the experimental aspects at Nottingham Trent University under the guidance of Professor Carl Brown. The EPSRC project will focus on quasi-static and dynamic electrospreading, patterning at the liquid-air interface and voltage-actuated microfluidic pumping. The present project will focus on non-isothermal effects, which can play a major role in many practical applications (such as “lap on a chip” type microfluidic devices in which electrical heating, both wanted and unwanted, can be significant). It is intended that the student will make regular visits to Nottingham to gain familiarity with the experimental realities of dielectrophoresis.
The project builds on the proposers’ extensive expertise in the theoretical modelling of thin-films of isotropic and anisotropic liquids and Professor Brown’s extensive previous experimental work on liquid crystals. The successful applicant with become a member of the world-class research group working on various theoretical aspects of liquid crystals in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.
Student Eligibility: UK only.
How to Apply: Via the University of Strathclyde online application system at http://pgr.strath.ac.uk/.