Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Abstract Liquid crystals are fluids with a directionality defined. Polymers are long molecules with a shape that can be changed. As a network, polymers form rubber - a soft solid that is locally liquid-like and capable of huge extension. Liquid crystal elastomers are a combination of all these curious aspects, but with additional, revolutionary new phenomena - for example, spontaneous shape changes of several hundred percent induced by temperature change, with equally large opto-mechanical responses, shape change without energy cost ("soft elasticity"), colour change with strain, lasing and photonics, sensitivity to molecular handedness and soft solid ferroelectricity. This book is a primer for liquid…