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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

An Electrochemical Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Device for Quick and Low-Voltage Color Modulation
Published on: February 27, 2019
Theory of helicoids and skyrmions in confined cholesteric liquid crystals
Sajedeh Afghah1, Jonathan V Selinger1
1Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
Abstract:
Cholesteric liquid crystals experience geometric frustration when they are confined between surfaces with anchoring conditions that are incompatible with the cholesteric twist. Because of this frustration, they develop complex topological defect structures, which may be helicoids or skyrmions. We develop a theory for these structures, which extends previous theoretical research by deriving exact solutions for helicoids with the assumption of constant azimuth, calculating numerical solutions for helicoids and skyrmions with varying azimuth, and interpreting the results in terms of competition between terms in the free energy.
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