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Phase transition in ellipsoidal droplets of nematic liquid crystals

A.V. Emelyanenko$^1$, V.Yu. Rudyak$^1$, J.-H. Liu$^2$

Moscow University Physics Bulletin 2016. 16. N 1. P. 52

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Annotation

We developed a simple method for the calculation of the director field distribution in the droplets of nematic liquid crystals (LCs) of any shape, allowing for the interaction of LCs with the droplet surface, as well as the influence of constant electric field. In contrast to different approaches, the approach that is developed in the present paper does not require any simplifying suppositions about the structure of the LC director field. The elastic-continuum theory is used, complemented with the possibility of consideration of point and linear defects. Calculations are performed using the Monte Carlo method on a simple grid. The triangulation technique is used to take the boundary conditions of droplets of a complex shape into account. The developed approach can be used for investigation of the properties of polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLCs). The topological phase transitions in the nematic LC 4-cyano-4′-pentyl-biphenyl (5CB) in spherical and ellipsoidal droplets are investigated in this paper.

Received: 2015 October 12
Approved: 2016 March 11
PACS:
61.30.Dk Continuum models and theories of liquid crystal structure
Authors
A.V. Emelyanenko$^1$, V.Yu. Rudyak$^1$, J.-H. Liu$^2$
$^1$Department of Physics, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia
$^2$National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101 Taiwan
Issue 1, 2016

Moscow University Physics Bulletin

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