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Updated: Aug 7, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Chirality-biased point defects dynamics on a disclination line in a nematic liquid crystal
Andrzej Zywociński1, Katarzyna Pawlak, Robert Hołyst
1Laboratoire de Physique, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 Allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France. zywot@ichf.edu.pl
Abstract:
Chiral additives in the nematic liquid crystal can alter the dynamics of point defects moving on a disclination line. They exert a constant force on defects, leading to the bimodal distribution of distances between them at long times. The evolution of the system of defects in the presence of chiral additives provides a very direct proof of the existence of repulsive forces between the defects at large distances. We find that addition of a sufficient amount of chiral compound removes all point defects from the system. The process is studied in the system of 8CB (4-n-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl) doped with the chiral compound S811 (from Merck Co.) and in the computer simulations.
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