A one-dimensional variational problem for cholesteric liquid crystals with disparate elastic constants

Statistical Theory of Elastic Constants of Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

A statistical theory of cholesteric liquid crystals composed of short rigid biaxial molecules is presented. It is derived in the thermodynamic limit at a small density and a small twist. The uniaxial (biaxial) cholesteric phase is regarded as a distorted form of the uniaxial (biaxial) nematic phase. The chirality of the interactions and the implementation of the inversion to the rotation matrix...

Elastic Constants of Nematic Liquid Crystals of Uniaxial Symmetry

We study in detail the influence of molecular interactions on the Frank elastic constants of uniaxial nematic liquid crystals composed of molecules of cylindrical symmetry. A brief summary of the status of theoretical development for the elastic constants of nematics is presented. Considering a pair potential having both repulsive and attractive parts numerical calculations are reported for thr...

Wetting of cholesteric liquid crystals.

We investigate theoretically the wetting properties of cholesteric liquid crystals at a planar substrate. If the properties of substrate and of the interface are such that the cholesteric layers are not distorted, the wetting properties are similar to those of a nematic liquid crystal. If, on the other hand, the anchoring conditions force the distortion of the liquid crystal layers the wetting ...

Cholesteric to cholesteric phase transitions in liquid crystals

Hydrodynamic instabilities in active cholesteric liquid crystals.

We describe the basic properties and consequences of introducing active stresses, with principal direction along the local director, in cholesteric liquid crystals. The helical ground state is found to be linearly unstable to extensile stresses, without threshold in the limit of infinite system size, whereas contractile stresses are hydrodynamically screened by the cholesteric elasticity to giv...