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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Defect-antidefect correlations in a lyotropic liquid crystal from a cosmological point of view
H Mukai1, P R G Fernandes, B F de Oliveira
1Departamento de Física, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Av. Colombo, 5790, 87020-900-Maringá, Paraná, Brazil.
Abstract:
In this work, we analyze the defect and antidefect distribution in the nematic calamitic phase of a lyotropic liquid crystal [the ternary mixture formed by potassium laurate (KL), decanol (DeOH), and water]. We obtain defects with wedge disclinations of strength +/-1/2, and the scaling exponent determined by the defect-antidefect correlation was 0.29+/-0.07. This value is in good agreement with the theoretical value of 14 obtained by the Kibble mechanism. The constant of the scaling relation of the defect and antidefect distribution is also discussed. We compare our results with the values obtained by Digal [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 5030 (1999)] who used a thermotropic liquid crystal.
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