Studying the change of the nanostructure of liquid crystals

The liquid crystals that are used in PC or TV monitors are arrayed regularly in the vertical and horizontal directions owing to a self-assembling mechanism.

This study explores how the regularity of the array changes with heating, using a stearic series compound

The large outside ring (below left) shows the information obtained from the liquid crystals (the central ring represents a part of the direct beam from the X-ray source). With 5-second measurements using a two-dimensional CCD, the peak position and the information is obtained on the two-dimensional structure of the sample, such as whether or not the sample is uniform or if it is oriented in a special direction.

By combining highly functional multilayer mirrors, Rigaku's NANO-Viewer enables the user to observe rapidly changing behavior during the melting of liquid crystals. The figure to the right reveals that the liquid crystals are melting while keeping the size of the structure unchanged.