The ground state of chromonic liquid crystals, as revealed by a number of recent exper- iments, is quite different from that of ordinary nematic liquid crystals: it is twisted instead of uniform. The common explanation provided for this state within the classi- cal elastic theory of Frank demands that one Ericksen’s inequality is violated. Since in general such a violation makes Frank’s elastic free-energy functional unbounded below, the question arises as to whether the twisted ground state can be locally stable. We answer this question in the affirmative. In reaching this conclusion, a central role is played by the specific boundary conditions imposed in the experiments on the bound- ary of rigid containers and by a general formula that we derive here for the second variation in Frank’s elastic free energy.
Stability Against the Odds: The Case of Chromonic Liquid Crystals
Paparini, Silvia;Virga, Epifanio G.
2022-01-01
Abstract
The ground state of chromonic liquid crystals, as revealed by a number of recent exper- iments, is quite different from that of ordinary nematic liquid crystals: it is twisted instead of uniform. The common explanation provided for this state within the classi- cal elastic theory of Frank demands that one Ericksen’s inequality is violated. Since in general such a violation makes Frank’s elastic free-energy functional unbounded below, the question arises as to whether the twisted ground state can be locally stable. We answer this question in the affirmative. In reaching this conclusion, a central role is played by the specific boundary conditions imposed in the experiments on the bound- ary of rigid containers and by a general formula that we derive here for the second variation in Frank’s elastic free energy.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
