Nematic Films and Radially Anisotropic Delaunay Surfaces

Abstract

We develop a theory of axisymmetric surfaces minimizing a combination of surface tension and nematic elastic energies which may be suitable for describing simple film and bubble shapes. As a function of the elastic constant and the applied tension on the bubbles, we find the analogues of the unduloid, sphere, and nodoid in addition to other new surfaces.

15 pages, 18 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Fluid-membrane tethers: minimal surfaces and elastic boundary layers
• Nematic textures in spherical shells
• Defects in nematic membranes can buckle into pseudospheres
• Dynamics of the molecular orientation field coupled to ions in two-dimensional ferroelectric liquid crystals
• Liquid Crystal Foams: Formation and Coarsening

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Vortices in Superfluid Films on Curved Surfaces
• Surface free energies for nematic shells
• Hydrodynamic theory for nematic shells: the interplay among curvature, flow and alignment
• Influence of the Extrinsic Curvature on 2D Nematic Films
• Membrane stress and torque induced by Frank's nematic textures: A geometric perspective using surface-based constraints
• Mechanics of nematic membranes: Euler-Lagrange equations, Noether charges, stress, torque and boundary conditions of the surface Frank nematic field