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Novel Techniques for Observing Structural Dynamics of Photoresponsive Liquid Crystals
Published on: May 29, 2018
Theoretical modeling of photo-induced wave propagation in liquid-crystalline Langmuir monolayers
Tohru Okuzono1, Yuka Tabe, Hiroshi Yokoyama
1Yokoyama Nano-structured Liquid Crystal Project, ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 5-9-9 Tokodai, Tsukuba 300-2635, Japan. okuzono@nanolc.jst.go.jp
Abstract:
A phenomenological model of wave propagation in photo-excited liquid-crystalline Langmuir monolayers is constructed. The spontaneous splay deformation of the liquid-crystalline order and the anisotropy of photo-excitation of molecules are taken into account in this model. Numerical simulations of the model well reproduce qualitative features of the wave propagation phenomenon observed in recent experiments. A linear stability analysis of the model equations reveals that an interplay between the spontaneous splay deformation and the anisotropy of the photo-excitation can lead to the wave propagation.

