Preface
I started my research activity as an undergraduate student in a chemical school
under the supervision of Profs. Hideaki Chihara and Tooru Atake. My research
object was a phase transition exhibited by the crystal of an organic compound,
and our experimental setup was a laboratory-made calorimeter constructed by
Tooru. The measurement itself of the heat capacity was not difficult (but very
time-consuming) because of the state-of-the-art calorimeter. On the other hand, my
knowledge was deficient in analyzing the results and even catching their meaning.
The situation forced me to read textbooks of statistical and solid-state physics.
I found the necessity to generalize the content if we intended to utilize them for
molecular crystals. Indeed, the inclusion of rotational and even deformational
degrees of freedom into the lattice-dynamical treatment was necessary.
After graduation with my doctoral degree, I joined the group headed by
Prof. Isao Ikemoto. The group was active in synthesizing and characterizing organic
conductors, including some superconductors. My knowledge in solid-state physics
was undoubtedly useful in this period of ca. 10 years. The important lesson I
learned was that most of the interesting properties were well (although only partially) described without molecular languages. Although crystal structures were
essential, the properties were analyzed using an effective Hamiltonian, which did
not retain “molecular” properties. On the other hand, the complete oblivion of the
molecular nature sometimes irritated the research community.
After returning to the university of my graduation as a member of Prof. Michio
Sorai’s group, I started studying liquid crystals and have continued it besides other
issues at the other place till now. Through the whole period of my research, I have
been more convinced that the essential feature of molecular systems is the
molecular shape. The other belief I have acquired is that many attractive and
challenging puzzles are in molecular systems as critical issues of condensed matter
physics.
The three preceding paragraphs give the background of my idea of writing this
book. I intended to fill a gap in the knowledge about the properties of macroscopic
(bulk) material between chemistry- and physics-trained persons and to illustrate the
appeal of molecular systems without stepping into every detail. Although many
v
I started my research activity as an undergraduate student in a chemical school
under the supervision of Profs. Hideaki Chihara and Tooru Atake. My research
object was a phase transition exhibited by the crystal of an organic compound,
and our experimental setup was a laboratory-made calorimeter constructed by
Tooru. The measurement itself of the heat capacity was not difficult (but very
time-consuming) because of the state-of-the-art calorimeter. On the other hand, my
knowledge was deficient in analyzing the results and even catching their meaning.
The situation forced me to read textbooks of statistical and solid-state physics.
I found the necessity to generalize the content if we intended to utilize them for
molecular crystals. Indeed, the inclusion of rotational and even deformational
degrees of freedom into the lattice-dynamical treatment was necessary.
After graduation with my doctoral degree, I joined the group headed by
Prof. Isao Ikemoto. The group was active in synthesizing and characterizing organic
conductors, including some superconductors. My knowledge in solid-state physics
was undoubtedly useful in this period of ca. 10 years. The important lesson I
learned was that most of the interesting properties were well (although only partially) described without molecular languages. Although crystal structures were
essential, the properties were analyzed using an effective Hamiltonian, which did
not retain “molecular” properties. On the other hand, the complete oblivion of the
molecular nature sometimes irritated the research community.
After returning to the university of my graduation as a member of Prof. Michio
Sorai’s group, I started studying liquid crystals and have continued it besides other
issues at the other place till now. Through the whole period of my research, I have
been more convinced that the essential feature of molecular systems is the
molecular shape. The other belief I have acquired is that many attractive and
challenging puzzles are in molecular systems as critical issues of condensed matter
physics.
The three preceding paragraphs give the background of my idea of writing this
book. I intended to fill a gap in the knowledge about the properties of macroscopic
(bulk) material between chemistry- and physics-trained persons and to illustrate the
appeal of molecular systems without stepping into every detail. Although many
v