Phase transitions in nematics: textures with tactoids and disclinations

Dmitry Golovaty¹ ; Young-Ki Kim² ; Oleg D. Lavrentovich³ ; Michael Novack⁴ ; Peter Sternberg⁴

¹ Department of Mathematics, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), 77 Cheongam-Ro, Nam-Gu, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 37673, Korea.
³ Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program, Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, OH, USA.
⁴ Department of Mathematics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.

Mathematical modelling of natural phenomena, Tome 15 (2020), article no. 8.

Résumé

We demonstrate that a first order isotropic-to-nematic phase transition in liquid crystals can be succesfully modeled within the generalized Landau-de Gennes theory by selecting an appropriate combination of elastic constants. The numerical simulations of the model established in this paper qualitatively reproduce the experimentally observed configurations that include interfaces and topological defects in the nematic phase.

Détail

DOI : 10.1051/mmnp/2019034

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