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Updated: Sep 17, 2025

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Winding up dynamics for matched and unmatched elastic constants in chiral nematic liquid crystals
Eric Khoudi Omori1, Renato Ferreira de Souza1, Rodolfo Teixeira de Souza1,2
1Departamento de Física, Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Avenida Colombo, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil.
Abstract:
Recently discovered materials have opened up the possibility of easily and repeatably altering the ratio among the elastic constants characterizing nematic liquid crystals. These ratios are crucial for defining the pathways for the relaxation process from the unwound state to the Grandjean (planar) state in chiral nematics. In this study, we use the Landau-de Gennes method in the Q-tensor formalism to investigate this textural transition for different bend-to-twist ratios representing nematic phases that are currently easily prepared. We also examine the effect of varying alignment conditions and strength on this transition and make qualitative comparisons with experimental data. This work demonstrates how the dynamics are entirely different under small changes in the material and the confinement and how one can use its results to design reflective chiral nematic displays.
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