Plateau Instability of Liquid Crystalline Cylinder in Magnetic Field

Abstract

The capillary instability of a LC cylinder in magnetic field is considered using an energy approach. The boundary problem is solved in the linear approximation of the anisotropy ${\chi }_a$ of the magnetic susceptibility $\chi$. The effect of anisotropy, in the region $1\gg |\chi |>|{\chi }_a|\gg {\chi }^2$, can be strong enough to counteract and even reverse the tendency of the field to enhance stabilization by enlarging the cut--off wave number $k_s$ beyond the conventional one set by Rayleigh.

14 pages, 2 figures