Field-induced motion of nematic disclinations

Biscari, Paolo and Sluckin, Timothy J. (2005) Field-induced motion of nematic disclinations. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics, 65 (6), 2141-2157. (doi:10.1137/040618898).

Record type: Article

Abstract

An individual defect in a nematic liquid crystal moves not only in response to its interaction with other defects but also in response to external fields. We analyze the motion of a wedge disclination in the presence of an applied field of strength H. We neglect backflow and seek steadily traveling patterns. The stationary picture yields a semi-infinite wall of strength ?, bounded by the defect line. We find that the disclination advances into the region containing the wall at velocity v(H), where v scales as H/|log H| as long as the magnetic coherence length is greater than the core radius. When the external field is applied in the presence of a pair of disclinations, their dynamics is strongly influenced. We compute the expected relative velocity of the disclinations as a function of distance and field. The natural tendency for the disclinations to annihilate each other can be overcome by a sufficiently strong field suitably directed.

This record has no associated files available for download.