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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Dynamics of nematic liquid crystal disclinations: the role of the backflow
1Laboratoire des colloïdes, verres et nanomatériaux, UMR 5587, CNRS-Université Montpellier II, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France.
Abstract:
We measure the electric-field-driven annihilation of nematic disclination pairs with strength +/- 1/2 in the 4-cyano-4'-n-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) liquid crystal. The use of a very weak azimuthal anchoring ensures a two-dimensional director field. The relaxation is governed by the formation of a pi wall connecting the two opposite charge defects. The +1/2 disclinations move almost twice as fast as the -1/2 disclinations. The simple used geometry allows a quantitative comparison with numerical studies based on the hydrodynamics of the tensorial order parameter. The simulations show that in the pi wall regime the symmetry breaking is due to the backflow and not to the elastic anisotropy.
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