Molecular dynamics simulation of thermomechanical coupling in a cholesteric liquid crystal model based on the Gay-Berne potential

In 1900 Otto Lehmann found that a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) subjected to a temperature gradient parallel to the cholesteric axis started rotating [1]. This phenomenon, thermomechanical coupling, was explained by Leslie in 1968 [2], who regarded it as a linear transport process, where a temperature gradient parallel to the cholesteric axis in addition to driving a heat flow also induces a torque that rotates the director. This is allowed by the low symmetry of the CLC that belongs to the space group D2. The coupling coefficient between the temperature gradient and the director angular velocity is denoted the Leslie coefficient. Lehmann's experiment was repeated in 1982 by Éber and Jánossy [3] and recently, a thorough investigation of thermomechanical coupling has been undertaken by Oswald [4].