On Surface Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation

On Surface Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation PDF Author: Diego Roccato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 25

Get Book Here

Book Description

On Surface Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation

On Surface Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation PDF Author: Diego Roccato
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 25

Get Book Here

Book Description


Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation

Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation PDF Author: E. G. Virga
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 18

Get Book Here

Book Description


Defects in Liquid Crystals: Computer Simulations, Theory and Experiments

Defects in Liquid Crystals: Computer Simulations, Theory and Experiments PDF Author: Oleg D. Lavrentovich
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401005125
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 356

Get Book Here

Book Description
Topological defects are the subject of intensive studies in many different branches of physics ranging from cosmology to liquid crystals and from elementary particles to colloids and biological systems. Liquid crystals are fascinating materials which present a great variety of these mathematical objects and can therefore be considered as an extremely useful laboratory for topological defects. This book is the first attempt to present together complementary approaches to the investigations of topological defects in liquid crystals using theory, experiments and computer simulations.

A Variational Problem for Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation

A Variational Problem for Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation PDF Author: Victor J. Mizel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Calculus of variations
Languages : en
Pages : 24

Get Book Here

Book Description
Abstract: "A version of Ericksen's order parameter theory of liquid crystals is studied in the case of a cylindrical container with anchoring on the curved surface only. The solutions are determined rather explicitly and the equilibrium orientation field is shown to vary between that of the Frank solution (possessing an axial disclination) and that of the disclination-free Cladis-Kleman solution as a scalar parameter in the free energy varies from 0 to [infinity]."

Variational Problems for Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation

Variational Problems for Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation PDF Author: Victor J. Mizel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Calculus of variations
Languages : en
Pages : 5

Get Book Here

Book Description
Abstract: "The analysis of a nematic liquid crystal, filling a bounded cylindrical container, whose free energy is a (simplified) version of Ericksen's model with variable degree of orientation, leads to a variational problem of the form F[s, [phi]] = [integral]10[k (sʹ)2 + s2 (([phi]ʹ)2 + cos2[phi]/r2)]rdr subject to s(1) = s0, [phi](1) = 0, with k a positive constant. It will be shown that a surprisingly explicit solution is obtainable. Moreover an interesting bifurcation takes place at k = 1."

A Stochastic Control Problem for Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation

A Stochastic Control Problem for Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation PDF Author: Dmitry Pugachevsky
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Topological Defects Formed in Liquid Crystals Containing Solid Microspheres with Tailored Surface Properties

Topological Defects Formed in Liquid Crystals Containing Solid Microspheres with Tailored Surface Properties PDF Author: Yuedong Gu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Get Book Here

Book Description


Elasticity Theory And Topological Defects In Nematic Liquid Crystals

Elasticity Theory And Topological Defects In Nematic Liquid Crystals PDF Author: Cheng Long
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Liquid crystal is a state of matter where constituents show orientational order, despite lack of translational order. For regular nematic liquid crystals, the ground state of orientational distribution of mesogens is described by a single axis, known as the director. Due to effects such as surface anchoring or chiral nature of added liquid crystal molecules, the uniformity in an orientational order field can be broken. The short-range spatial correlation persisting in the orientational order field, as well as topological defects enabled by the uniaxial symmetry manifested from the local orientational order of a nematic liquid crystal, often gives rise to abundant intriguing and sophisticated pattern formation in nematic liquid crystals. Studying the pattern formation and the topological defects in those orientational order fields is essential for understanding rheological and optical properties of nematic liquid crystals. Employing analytical and numerical tools, this dissertation explores the implications of elasticity theory which is commonly used to characterize the deformation of a uniform orientational order field, and the motion of different topological defects in nematic liquid crystals. In the conventional Oseen-Frank elasticity theory, a uniform ground state is protected by the elastic constants satisfying Ericksen inequalities. To examine the scope of the elasticity theory beyond the Ericksen inequalities, we revisit the Oseen-Frank elasticity theory for nematic liquid crystals from the perspective of a reformulated form and find a new set of necessary inequalities for Frank elastic constants to ensure the existence of stable solutions, which is weaker than the Ericksen inequalities. We therefore identify a regime where the Ericksen inequalities are violated but the system is still stable. Remarkably, lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals are in that regime. We investigate the nonuniform structure of the director field in that regime, show that it depends sensitively on system geometry, and discuss the implications for lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals. Applying the same reformulated elasticity theory, we prove that geometric frustration exists in cholesteric liquid crystals. We explicitly demonstrate influences of geometric frustration in two models. First, we consider a chiral liquid crystal confined in a long cylinder with free boundaries. When the radius of the tube is sufficiently small, the director field forms a double-twist configuration, which is the ideal local structure. However, when the radius becomes large enough, due to the geometric frustration, the director field transforms into either a cholesteric phase with single twist, or a set of double-twist regions separated by disclinations, depending on the ratio of disclination energy density to elastic energy density. Second, we study a cholesteric liquid crystal confined between two infinite parallel plates with free boundaries, and we find that geometric frustration induces buckled helical cholesteric structure close to the free boundaries, reminiscent of the Helfrich-Hurault instability. Inspired by the experimental observation that skyrmions in cholesteric liquid crystals can move like particles under applied electric fields, we propose a general theoretical methodology for studying the motion of localized topological objects in liquid crystals, based on collective coordinate method. In our method, the continuum field of a topological soliton is represented by a few macroscopic degrees of freedom, including the position of the excitation and the orientation of the background field, and the motion of the topological soliton is thus derived from the equations of motion for those macroscopic degrees of freedom. Using the coarse-grained method, we elucidate the mechanism of moving solitons and skyrmions in a toggling field. Finally, to understand disclinations, an important class of topological defects in liquid crystals, we build a simple nematic order tensor model for a disclination in a nematic liquid crystal clarifying an analytical relation between the properties of the tensor field close to a disclination and the rotation axis of the nematic orientation around the disclination, which turns out to be an important quantity for the behaviors of a disclination. Analogous to a dislocation in a solid, we find that a Peach-Koehler force can be induced to drive a disclination to move by applying an effective external stress, and that the force is closely related to the rotation axis of the nematic orientation. With the help of the Peach-Koehler force, we further develop a theoretical model for explaining the Frank- Read mechanism in nematic liquid crystals, where a pinned disclination can be multiplied under an effective external stress.

Microstructure and Phase Transition

Microstructure and Phase Transition PDF Author: David Kinderlehrer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461383609
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description
This IMA Volume in Mathematics and its Applications MICROSTRUCTURE AND PHASE TRANSITION is based on the proceedings of a workshop which was an integral part of the 1990-91 IMA program on "Phase Transitions and Free Boundaries." We thank R. Fosdick, M.E. Gurtin, W.-M. Ni and L.A. Peletier for organizing the year-long program and, especially, D. Kinderlehrer, R. James, M. Luskin and J. Ericksen for organizing the meeting and editing these proceedings. We also take this opportunity to thank those agencies whose financial support made the workshop possible: the Army Research Office, and the National Science Foun dation. A vner Friedman Willard Miller. Jr. PREFACE Much of our traditional knowledge of materials and processes is achievf'd by observa tion and analysis of small departures from equilibrium. Many materials, especially modern alloys, ceramics, and their composites, experience not only larger but more dramatic changes, such as the occurrence of phase transitions and t.he creation of defect structures, when viewed at the microscopic scale. How is this observed, how can it be interpreted, and how does it influence macroscopic behavior? These are the principle concerns of this volume, which constitutes the proceedings of an IMA workshop dedicated to these issues.

Existence of Minimal Energy Configuration of Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation

Existence of Minimal Energy Configuration of Nematic Liquid Crystals with Variable Degree of Orientation PDF Author: Luigi Ambrosio
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 10

Get Book Here

Book Description