Molecular and Electron Dynamics of One-Dimensional Liquid Crystals

Discotic liquid crystals are interesting materials, and some examples show 1-D conduction. In rare cases (two only) the system shows a dramatic increase in conduction in an ordered 'helically' packed phase. This observation has fuelled intense interest in these materials, not least for device application. A deeper understanding of the mechanism of conduction of these materials will assist in the development of future devices using this type of motif. Our preliminary muon spin relaxation studies show a low field ( ~ 100 G ) relaxation peak similar to that observed with DNA and related materials. Apart from a materials point of view these systems therefore appear to provide the simplest models to study conduction similar to that found in DNA. We have been successful in our application for beamtime at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland to carry out LF-avoided level crossing experiments and TF-muon spin rotation experiments to measure the hyperfine parameters in order to fully characterize these molecules and have been awarded a substantial allocation (12 days beamtime over 6 days). This is essential for a detailed study of the electron and molecular dynamics of these systems.The present application is for the associated travel and subsistence costs only to cover the PI and co-I for these experiments (4 other co-workers are funded from other sources) in order to perform these important experiments which are intended to form the basis of a substantial new collaborative project.