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Published on: May 29, 2018
Chiral structures and defects of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals induced by saddle-splay elasticity
Zoey S Davidson1, Louis Kang1, Joonwoo Jeong2
1Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
Abstract:
An experimental and theoretical study of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) confined in cylinders with degenerate planar boundary conditions elucidates LCLC director configurations. When the Frank saddle-splay modulus is more than twice the twist modulus, the ground state adopts an inhomogeneous escaped-twisted configuration. Analysis of the configuration yields a large saddle-splay modulus, which violates Ericksen inequalities but not thermodynamic stability. Lastly, we observe point defects between opposite-handed domains, and we explain a preference for point defects over domain walls.
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