Critical Phenomena in Liquids and Liquid Crystals

Book excerpt: Phase transitions and critical phenomena in liquids and liquid crystals have been the subject of intensive research since the 1960s. However, books on this fascinating subject have tended to be written by theorists for theorists. Professor Anisimov offers us a new approach: he aims to introduce experimentalists to the modern theories and their applications. After introducing the thermodynamics of phase transitions, he presents the modern theory of critical phenomena. He then concludes by illustrating the utility of this theory in the analysis of experimental measurements in classical fluids and binary mixtures, superfluid mixtures of helium isotopes and liquid crystals. Not only will this book be enjoyed by experimental physicists, chemists and material scientists, it will also offer the theorist an insight into the interpretation of the experimentalist's work.