Topological defect enabled formation of nematic domains

ABSTRACT

We study numerically curvature and electric field driven domain formation and reorientations in two-dimensional nematic liquid crystals within square confinement. We use the Landau-de Gennes description in terms of the nematic tensor order parameter. We show that on increasing the amplitude of a sinusoidally shaped confining wall, pairs {defect, antidefect} are formed, which enable insertion of domains displaying significantly different average orientational order with respect to the surrounding nematic body. Furthermore, we study E-driven transformation between two competing degenerate domain-type structures. We show that transformations could be mediated via qualitatively different intermediate structures possessing topological defects.

Graphical Abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Nematic liquid crystals
• topological defects
• order reconstruction
• phenomenological modelling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency [Grant No. P1-0403].