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Updated: Jul 24, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Anchoring-mediated interaction of edge dislocations with bounding surfaces in confined cholesteric liquid crystals
I I Smalyukh1, O D Lavrentovich
1Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
Abstract:
We employ the fluorescent confocal polarizing microscopy to image edge dislocations in cholesteric liquid crystals. Surface anchoring at the bounding plates determines the structure and behavior of defects. Two types of plates set in-plane director orientation but differ in the type of associated anchoring potentials. Plates with strong polar anchoring and nonzero azimuthal anchoring repel the dislocations, while plates with weak polar anchoring and no azimuthal anchoring allow the dislocations to escape through the boundary. To explain the results, we propose a coarse-grained model of cholesteric anchoring.
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