Topological Defects in Nematic Droplets of Hard Spherocylinders
arXiv:cond-mat/9906388 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.62.5081
Abstract
Using computer simulations we investigate the microscopic structure of the singular director field within a nematic droplet. As a theoretical model for nematic liquid crystals we take hard spherocylinders. To induce an overall topological charge, the particles are either confined to a two-dimensional circular cavity with homeotropic boundary or to the surface of a three-dimensional sphere. Both systems exhibit half-integer topological point defects. The isotropic defect core has a radius of the order of one particle length and is surrounded by free-standing density oscillations. The effective interaction between two defects is investigated. All results should be experimentally observable in thin sheets of colloidal liquid crystals.
13 pages, 16 figures, Phys. Rev. E
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- Liquid Crystals on Deformable Surfaces
- Nematic liquid crystals on curved surfaces - a thin film limit
- Close packing of rods on spherical surfaces
- Defect patterns of two-dimensional nematic liquid crystals in confinement
- Liquid crystals of hard rectangles on flat and cylindrical manifolds
- Density-functional study of defects in two-dimensional circular nematic nanocavities
- Two-dimensional nematics in bulk and confined geometries
- Non-equilibrium steady structures of confined liquid crystals driven by a dynamic boundary
- Structure and dynamics of interfaces between two coexisting liquid crystalline phases
- Reduced-variance orientational distribution functions from torque sampling
- Dimensional cross-over of hard parallel cylinders confined on cylindrical surfaces
- Active smectics on a sphere
- Hydrodynamic interactions in polar liquid crystals on evolving surfaces
- Topological fine structure of smectic grain boundaries and tetratic disclination lines within three-dimensional smectic liquid crystals
- Topology of orientational defects in confined smectic liquid crystals