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Abstract
We have undertaken a theoretical study on the structure of planar solitons in nematic and smectic liquid crystals. In nematics we find a soliton solution which can be looked upon as an intertwine between two solitons. In a nematic obtained by unwinding a cholesteric and in a nematic with very high dielectric anisotropy, we have worked out energetics of solitons. A 2π soliton in a ferronematic or a smectic C becomes unstable due to the splay bend elastic anisotropy. The structures of π solitons in smectic A and smectic C in the neighbourhood of a SA–SC phase transition have also been studied.