Twisted quasiperiodic textures of biaxial nematic liquid crystals

Continuum Theory of Biaxial Nematic Liquid Crystals

Coarsening dynamics of biaxial nematic liquid crystals.

We study the coarsening dynamics of two- and three-dimensional biaxial nematic liquid crystals, using Langevin dynamics. Unlike previous work, we use a model with no a priori relationship among the three elastic constants associated with director deformations. Biaxial nematics possess four topologically distinct classes of defects, three of which have half-integer charge, while the fourth, whic...

Polydispersity stabilizes biaxial nematic liquid crystals.

Inspired by the observations of a remarkably stable biaxial nematic phase [van den Pol et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 258301 (2009)], we investigate the effect of size polydispersity on the phase behavior of a suspension of boardlike particles. By means of Onsager theory within the restricted orientation (Zwanzig) model we show that polydispersity induces a novel topology in the phase diagram, w...

Models for biaxial nematic liquid crystals

Spontaneously Twisted Nonchiral Nematic Liquid Crystals

Miroscopic theories of nematic liquid crystals allow us to calculate from a few molecular parameters a number of macroscopic and static properties, such as the equation of state, the short and long-range order parameters and the visco-elastic coefficients. An attempt to provide such a microscopic theory which, for the more common nematics, fits the experimental data for the elastic constants an...