Zigzag instability of a chi disclination line in a cholesteric liquid crystal.
Eur Phys J E Soft Matter
; 19(4): 489-500, 2006 Apr.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-16612559
ABSTRACT
We studied the formation of chi disclination lines in planar cholesteric samples placed in a temperature gradient near the cholesteric to smectic A phase transition. We observed that the first simple line which forms close to the smectic-cholesteric front zigzags when it is perpendicular to the direction of planar anchoring and is straight for other orientations. This instability is similar to Herring instability for crystalline surfaces. We show numerically that it originates from a strong increase of the elastic anisotropy close to the transition. In addition, we propose a new method to measure the pitch divergence at the smectic to cholesteric phase transition.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Modelos Moleculares
/
Colesterol
/
Cristalização
/
Cristais Líquidos
/
Modelos Químicos
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Eur Phys J E Soft Matter
Assunto da revista:
BIOFISICA
Ano de publicação:
2006
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
França