Inducing chirality in homeotropic nematics via confinement geometry
Abstract
The configuration of liquid crystalline phases, in particular nematics, are controlled by both the microscopic properties of their constituents and the macroscopic boundary conditions. Past work has shown that microscopically achiral chromonic liquid crystals, which have a small twisting modulus in comparison to splay and bend moduli, form chiral textures when embedded in cylindrical geometries with homeotropic boundary conditions. We show that when the cylinder is bent into a torus, these chiral configurations form at higher relative twisting moduli than it would in a straight cylinder. We use a boundary preserving Möbius transformation to shift the escaped core region toward the inner walls of the torus, yielding energetically favorable configurations. In order to match the homeotropic boundary conditions, these configurations are necessarily twisted independent of the elastic constants of the achiral mesogens. We experimentally verify the existence of such twisted textures with 5CB in toroidal droplets.
- Publication:
-
APS March Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019APS..MARE50008M