Fast-Cooled Liquid Crystals

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Abstract
Several liquid crystal compounds have the ability to form a glassy solid phase on being quenched. Such materials and the experimental methods for their study are summarized in this paper. Macroscopic and microscopic descriptions of the structures of fast-cooled liquid crystals are given using both published data and our own results. Spectroscopic studies are analysed in order to characterize the intra- and intermolecular motions. The experimental investigations of glassy features of MBBA as a typical nematic liquid crystal are reviewed. The conditions for the production of the glassy state, the solid state polymorphism, molecular short-range and medium-range order, spectra of molecular motions in a wide frequency range are considered. Structural investigations of four samples with different hydrogen/deuterium ratios are described. Effects connected with the liquid crystal origin and the amorphous character of these states are analysed.