Disclinations and their radial force of interaction in elastically anisotropic nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

The problem of the radial force of interaction between disclinations in elastically anisotropic nematic liquid crystals has been considered. It is shown that a knowledge of the director field around each defect in isolation and that of a single defect of combined strength is sufficient, to compute the radial force. A convenient approach to the single defect problem is given, which clearly brings out the influence of elastic anisotropy.