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Updated: Jan 27, 2026

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Shear-Induced First-Order Transition in Polar Liquid Crystals
Tomer Markovich1,2, Elsen Tjhung1, Michael E Cates1
1DAMTP, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
The hydrodynamic theory of polar liquid crystals is widely used to describe biological active fluids as well as passive molecular materials. Depending on the "shear-alignment parameter", in passive or weakly active polar fluids under external shear, the polar order parameter p is either inclined to the flow at a fixed (Leslie) angle, or rotates continuously. Here, we study the role of an additional "shear-elongation parameter" that has been neglected in the recent literature and causes |p| to change under flow. We show that this effect can give rise to a shear-induced first-order phase transition from isotropic to polar, and significantly change the rheological properties of both active and passive polar fluids.
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