Karl Saunders, Associate Professor Department of Physics Calif. Polytechnic State Univ. San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 805.756.1696 (office) 805.756.2435 (fax) ksaunder@calpoly.edu updated Sept 27th 11  RESUME You can download my resume from the attachments section at the bottom of the page. TEACHING In fall quarter 2011 I am teaching
OTHER CLASSES THAT I HAVE TAUGHT
RESEARCH STUDENTS: The availability of research positions and projects will vary over time. If there is a research topic or project that you would like to work on please get in touch with me. If you just want to learn more or chat about my research interests, let me know. PUBLICATIONS: My condensed matter publications can be accessed here and my pattern formation publication can be accessed here. I am primarily interested in liquid crystals. This is a fascinating and technologically important class of materials. Here is a link to introductory material about liquid crystals. http://www.entertainmentcenterspot.com/science-behind-lcd-tv Liquid crystals are a fascinating class of soft materials that exhibit a range of phases intermediate between liquid and crystalline. These phases can be classified according to the types of order and patterning in their molecular arrangements. Liquid crystal materials exhibit transitions between phases. An everyday example of a phase transition is between water and ice. The rich variety of liquid crystal order and phase transitions has led to considerable scientific interest in their properties. In addition to the fundamental scientific motivation to understand liquid crystals, there is significant technological incentive. Liquid crystals have many wide-ranging applications including LCDs, i.e. liquid crystal displays, a mutlibillion dollar industry. My research focuses on phase transitions between smectic, i.e. layered, structures in liquid crystals, specifically the smectic-A – smectic-C transition. Recently, there has been significant activity in the synthesis and experimental study of technologically promising new chiral liquid crystal materials. These materials exhibit Sm-A – Sm-C transitions with several unusual properties including very strong fluctuation effects, minimal layer contraction, and colossal electro-optical response (particularly appealing to the liquid crystal display (LCD) industry). The transition in most of the materials is either continuous and near a tricritical point, or first order.
The central aim of my research is to study the chiral Sm-A – Sm-C transition. Of particular interest will be the transition at a tricritical point and the roles played by fluctuations and chirality. The project will also involve analysis of a novel chiral biaxial Sm-A phase, which may occur between the uniaxial Sm-A phase and the Sm-C phase. Biaxiality is a significant issue in the field of liquid crystals, particularly in the search for the elusive and technologically desirable biaxial nematic phase. Another component of the project will be the analysis of the surface electroclinic effect (SEE) near a first order chiral Sm-A – Sm-C transition. The SEE is a phenomenon, of particular importance in the design of ferroelectric LCDs, whereby the chiral Sm-A – Sm-C transition can be locally induced near a surface. There is reason to believe that the SEE is particularly sensitive near the chiral first order Sm-A – Sm-C phase boundary. EXPERIMENTAL LIQUID CRYSTAL PROJECTS There are other Cal Poly Physics faculty doing experimental work on liquid crystals. Dr. Jonathan Fernsler is conducting an optoelectrical investigation of de Vries type materials. Dr. Matt Moelter plans to measure the velocity and attenuation of sound passing through liquid crystals. Liquid crystals can be thought of as being anistropic liquids and this anistropy makes there ultrasonic properties very interesting. |