A shape optimization problem for nematic and cholesteric liquid crystal drops

Abstract

We generalize the shape optimization problem for the existence of stable equilibrium configurations of nematic and cholesteric liquid crystal drops surrounded by an isotropic solution to include a broader family of admissible domains with inner boundaries, allowing discontinuities in the director field across them. Within this setting, we prove the existence of optimal configurations under a volume constraint and show that the minimization problem is a natural generalization of that posed for regular domains.

Keywords: Liquid crystals, shape optimization, sets of finite perimeter, functions of bounded variations