nematic

From Ancient Greek νήματος (nḗmatos), genitive of νῆμα (nêma, “thread”).

nematic (comparative more nematic, superlative most nematic)

1. (physics, chemistry, of certain liquid crystals) Whose molecules align in loose parallel lines.

• nematic phase

• cholesteric
• smectic

nematic (plural nematics)

1. A liquid crystal whose molecules align in loose parallel lines.
   • 1984, L D Landau, L. P. Pitaevskii, A. M. Kosevich, E.M. Lifshitz, Theory of Elasticity, volume 7, page 147:

     It is easy to see, however, that the same coefficients in nematics determine the adiabatic deformations also.

   • 1988, Masao Doi, The Theory of Polymer Dynamics, page 368:

     For low-molecular-weight nematics, it has been known that the constitutive equation of nematics is entirely different from that for isotropic liquids.

   • 1996, Lev M. Blinov, Vladimir G. Chigrinov, Electrooptic Effects in Liquid Crystal Materials, page 274:

     Electrohydrodynamic instabilities in nematics could be classified according to the dependence of the threshold voltage (or field) on the physical parameters of the liquid crystal, cell geometry, field frequency, etc.

• -metacin, emicant