Field-induced alignment of the nematic director: studies of nuclear magnetic resonance spectral oscillations in the limit of fast director rotation

A M Kantola; G R Luckhurst; A Sugimura; T Tanaka; B A Timimi

doi:10.1063/1.3608164

Field-induced alignment of the nematic director: studies of nuclear magnetic resonance spectral oscillations in the limit of fast director rotation

J Chem Phys. 2011 Jul 28;135(4):044501. doi: 10.1063/1.3608164.

Authors

A M Kantola¹, G R Luckhurst, A Sugimura, T Tanaka, B A Timimi

Affiliation

¹ NMR Research Group, Department of Physics, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 3000, FIN-90014 Oulu, Finland.

PMID: 21806132
DOI: 10.1063/1.3608164

Abstract

Time-resolved NMR spectroscopy is a powerful method to investigate field-induced rotation of the director in a nematic liquid crystal. The method requires that the director does not rotate significantly during the acquisition of the free induction decay and hence the NMR spectrum. We have extended the method to systems where this is not the case and the observed NMR spectra are now found to contain novel oscillatory features. To understand these oscillations, we have developed a model combining both director and spin dynamics. In addition to increasing the information content of the time-resolved NMR spectra, it also proves possible to determine the field-induced relaxation time from a single spectrum.