See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/256282158

The physics of liquid crystals, 2nd edition: P.G. De Gennes

and J. Prost, Published in 1993 by Oxford University Press,
Oxford, UK, pp 7,597 + xvi, ISBN: 0-19-852024

Article  in  Materials Research Bulletin · January 1995

CITATIONS READS
0 69

1 author:

Akhlesh Lakhtakia
Pennsylvania State University
1,280 PUBLICATIONS   18,644 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Homogenization theory View project

Surface electromagnetic waves View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Akhlesh Lakhtakia on 05 March 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Vol. 30, No. 1 BOOK REVIEWS 127

P.G. DE GENNES AND J. PROST, THE PHYSICS OF LIQUID

CRYSTALS, 2ND EDITION, Published in 1993 by Oxford University Press,
Oxford, UK., pp 7,597 + xvi, ISBN: 0-19-852024-

The first edition of this book, the work of de Gennes alone, came out
in 1972 and became an instant hit. Along with Chandrasekhar’s Liquid
Crystals (Cambridge University Press) which appeared in 1977, it quickly
became a classic.
The 1970s and the 1980s were a period of momentous growth in
optoelectronic technology. Liquid crystals began to be used for displays,
optical waveplates, circular polarizers, optical isolators, soft apertures and
laserblocking notch filters, to mention only the most prominent
applications. Buoyed by commercial success, liquid crystal researchers
created the novel liquid crystal polymers, copolymers and thin films. New
smectics were fabricated, e.g., hexatic smectics and crystalline semctics.
The well-known family of nematics got a new class of members-biaxial
nematics. The optical properties of some of the so-called blue phases of
cholesterics (i.e., chiral nematics) were understood in terms of Bragg
phenomena. To crown it all, an entirely new phase of liquid crystals, called
columnar by de Gennes and discotic by many others, was discovered. The
tremendous activity made the second edition of de Gennes’ book overdue.

How does one review the improved version of a classic? The expert
knows the first edition well and would have followed the research literature
that appeared since, but the second edition is a brand new book to the
novice. Thus, to the expert all that needs to be said is that Prost has ably
assisted de Gennes in updating the book, though certain esoterica remain
esconced in journals. Most importantly, smectics have been allocated four
chapters in the second edition, bringing their importance at par with those
of nematics. In addition, there remains a chapter on cholesterics. Count-
ing the introductory chapter, the much expanded second edition has ten
chapters in all.

The novice is likely to find the going rough at the beginning because
the introductory chapter is terse. This reviewer suggests that the novice
turn to the highly readable Collings’ Liquid Crystals (Princeton University
Press, 1990) before turning to The Physics of Liquid Crystals. The novice
should also have his/her interests clear: If structural aspects (why certain
liquid crystalline phases are stable, and how phase transitions take place?)
have to be understood, the de Gennes-Prost book is likely to be very helpful.
If the optical behavior of liquid crystals is the field of study, this work is
going to be very likely of incidental benefit and the novice may be far better
off with Belyakov’s Diffraction Optics of Complex-Structured Periodic Media
(Springer, 1992). Finally, the chemistry of liquid crystals has only been
given mentioned in passing by de Gennes and Prost.
In order to profit most from The Physics of Liquid Crystals, the
reader must know classical solid mechanics at the very least. Knowledge of
viscoelasticity and thermodynamics will be an asset to the reader. Con-
tinuum mechanicians have extensively studied the structural behavior of
128 BOOK REVIEWS Vol. 30, No. 1

liquid crystals, particularly phase transitions, SO the book is very

mathematical.
The foregoing comments apply as much to the second edition (1992) of
Chandrasekhar’s Liquid Crystals as to the second edition of de Gennes’
book. The one major difference between the two classics is the collection of
problems and solutions given in The Physics of Liquid Crystals. Otherwise,
both remain splendid value for the researcher.

Reviewed by Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Department of Engineering Science and

Mechanics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802-1401.

View publication stats