Studies of Molecular Monolayers at Air-Liquid Interfaces by Second Harmonic Generation: Question of Orientational Phase Transition

摘要

Insoluble molecular monolayers at gas-liquid interfaces provide an insight to the understanding of surfactants, wetting, microemulsions and membrane structures and offer a possibility to study the rich world of 2-dimensional phase transitions. In the interpretation of the observed properties of these systems various assumptions about the molecular orientation are often made, but so far few clear experimental data exist. In this paper we will show how optical second harmonic generation (SHG) can be used to measure the molecular orientation of monolayers of surfactant molecules at water-air interfaces. By simultaneously measuring the surface pressure versus surface molecular area we can show for the first time that the observed liquid condensed-liquid expanded transition is an orientational phase transition. 7 refs., 4 figs. (ERA citation 11:014987)