Perturbative density functional methods for cholesteric liquid crystals

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...

Diffuso-mechanical coupling in cholesteric liquid crystals

2014 It has been observed that in cholesterics shear flow induces a transverse drift of small particles suspended in the liquid crystal. Quantitative measurements of the drift velocity are presented. The effect is interpreted using the analogy of the thermomechanical coupling, predicted for cholesterics. J. Physique LETTRES 42 ( 1981 ) L-41 L-43 Classification Physics Abstracts 61.30 15 JANVIER...

Photonic defect modes of cholesteric liquid crystals.

We investigate defect modes of cholesteric liquid crystals as photonic band gap materials. For normal incidence of light, cholesteric liquid crystals exhibit total reflection for the circular polarization with the same handedness as that of cholesteric helix. However, the other orthogonal component is completely transmitted. When we replace a thin layer of liquid crystal by an isotropic materia...