JOSEPH MACLENNAN

Associate Professor Attendant Rank, Physics Department, University of Colorado

Joseph Maclennan received his B.Sc.(Hons.) in Physics and Electronics from Rhodes University, South Africa, in 1980, and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Colorado in 1988. He then spent five years in the Physical Chemistry Department at the University of Mainz in Germany, the first two as a Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow. In 1994 he returned to Boulder to rejoin the Liquid Crystal Physics group at the University of Colorado.

His research interests center on the electro-optic properties of ferroelectric liquid crystals, including bent-core and de Vries type materials, and on the textures and phase transitions of freely-suspended liquid crystal films, including the ordering behavior of islands and liquid droplets. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are being studied both for liquid crystal alignment and as surface coatings in the vapor cells of atomic clocks. He has developed extensive computer code for modeling the optical response of liquid crystals in applied fields and the reorientation dynamics of azo-SAMs.

Selected Publications

  • "Polarization-Modulated Smectic Liquid Crystal Phases," D. A. Coleman, J. Fernsler, N.Chattham, M. Nakata, Y. Takanishi, E. Korblova, D. R.Link, R.-F.Shao, W.G. Jang, J. E. Maclennan, O. Mondain-Monval, C. Boyer, W. Weissflog, G. Pelzl, L.-C. Chien, J. Zasadzinski, J. Watanabe, D. M. Walba, H. Takezoe, and N. A. Clark, Science 301 , 1204-1211 (2003).
  • "Control of Molecular Orientation in Electrostatically Stabilized Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals," D. Coleman, D. Mueller, N. A. Clark, J. E. Maclennan, R.-F. Shao, S. Bardon, and D. M. Walba, Physical Review Letters 91 , 175505 (2003) (4 pages).
  • "Biaxial Model of the Surface Anchoring of Bent-Core Smectic Liquid Crystals," J. E. Maclennan, N. A. Clark, and D. M. Walba, Physical Review E 64 , 031706 (2001).
  • "Spontaneous Formation of Horizontal Chevrons in Smectic-C* Liquid Crystals," G. Strangi, D. A. Coleman,
    J. E. Maclennan, M. Copic, and N. A. Clark, Applied Physics Letters 78 , 1532 (2001).
  • "A Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Conglomerate Composed of Racemic Molecules," D. M. Walba, E. Körblova,
    R. Shao, J. E. Maclennan, D. R. Link, M. A. Glaser, and N. A. Clark, Science 288 , 2181 (2000).
  • "Spontaneous Formation of Polar Chiral Layers from Achiral Molecules in a Novel Antiferroelectric Liquid Crystal Phase", D. R. Link, G. Natale, R. Shao, J. E. Maclennan, N. A. Clark, E. Korblova, and D. M. Walba, Science 278, 1924-1927 (1997).
  • "Simultaneous Observation of Electric Field Coupling to Longitudinal and Transverse Ferroelectricity in a Chiral Liquid Crystal", D. R. Link, J. E. Maclennan, and N. A. Clark, Physical Review Letters 77, 2237-2240 (1996).
  • "Textures in Hexatic Films of Non-Chiral Liquid Crystals: Symmetry Breaking and Modulated Phases'', J. E. Maclennan, U. Sohling, N. A. Clark, and M. Seul, Physical Review E49, 3207-3224 (1994).
  • "Freely suspended liquid crystal film transfer: A new method of creating thin smectic films on solid substrates'', J. Maclennan, G. Decher, and U. Sohling, Applied Physics Letters 59, 917-919 (1991).
  • "Visible polarized light transmission spectroscopy of the electro-optic switching behaviour of surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cells'', Z. Zhuang, N. A. Clark, and J. E. Maclennan, Liquid Crystals 10, L409-417 (1991).
  • "Thermal fluctuation effects in ferroelectric liquid crystal polarization reversal: Light scattering from a transient domain wall foam'', J. E. Maclennan and N. A. Clark, Physical Review A44, 2543-2557 (1991).

Parting Shot: the Big Picture
 
 
email: Joseph.Maclennan@Colorado.EDU