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Updated: Jul 8, 2026

Novel Techniques for Observing Structural Dynamics of Photoresponsive Liquid Crystals
Published on: May 29, 2018
Structure of liquid crystal droplets with chiral propeller texture
Deng-Ke Yang1, Kwang-Un Jeong, S Z D Cheng
1Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA. dyang@lci.kent.edu
Abstract:
We experimentally studied a nematic liquid crystal whose molecules form twisted head-to-head H-bonded dimers. We observed that when the material transformed from the isotropic to nematic phase, it formed droplets with chiral propeller textures. We carried out a computer simulation to investigate the liquid crystal director configuration inside the droplets and to study the effects of elastic constants and chirality on the droplet texture. Results of our study show it is likely that the material in the droplets had nonzero chirality due to spontaneous chiral phase separation.
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