Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2289/2093
Title: Electric field induced walls in the bend geometry of a nematic liquid crystal
Authors: Garg, Shila
Bramley, Erica
Kini, U.D.
Keywords: Nematic
electric field
bend geometry
zigzag disclinations
alignment inversion walls
Freedericksz transition
Issue Date: 1998
Publisher: Gorden and Breach Science Publishers.
Citation: Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, 1998, Vol.325, p209-240
Abstract: A homeotropically aligned nematic is subjected to the action of an ac electric field applied in the sample plane. With progressively increasing electric voltage, walls move away from the electrodes, approach each other and merge. A subsequent decrease of voltage to zero causes the reverse process to occur except for hysteresis. The hysteresis width is employed to estimate the adhesion surface energy density of the walls; the surface energy density is of the same order as the anisotropy in surface tension of nematics. The wall thickness diminishes with increasing voltage. This shows that the observed walls are similar to those produced by magnetic fields. The walls exhibit curvature in the sample plane, the undulation in a wall being regular at sufficiently elevated frequencies m. The walls are decorated along their length by a zigzag defect pattern which is being reported in the bend Freedericksz geometry for the first time. Some of the observations are explained qualitatively.
Description: Restricted Access
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2289/2093
ISSN: 1058-725X
Copyright: 1998 Overseas Publishers Association N.V.
Appears in Collections:Research Papers (SCM)

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