Impact of curvature on topological defects

INERA Workshop 2016: Membrane and Liquid Crystal Nanostructures

Mesarec, L.^1 ; Gód, W.^2 ; Igli, A.^1 ; Kralj, S.^3,4

Laboratory of Biophysics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Traka 25, Ljubljana

1000, Slovenia^1

Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, Warsaw

01-224, Poland^2

Condensed Matter Physics Department, Joef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, Ljubljana

1000, Slovenia^3

Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroka 160, Maribor

2000, Slovenia^4

关键词: Curvature contribution;    Intrinsic curvature;    Nematic film;    Nematic order;    Nematic shells;    Topological defect;    Two Dimensional (2 D);   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/780/1/012015/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/780/1/012015

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

We analyze the impact of extrinsic and intrinsic curvature on positions of topological defects (TDs) in two-dimensional (2D) nematic films. We demonstrate that both these curvature contributions are commonly present and are expected to be weighted by comparable elastic constants. A simple Landau-de Gennes approach in terms of tensor nematic order parameter is used to numerically demonstrate impact of the curvatures on position of TDs on 2D ellipsoidal nematic shells. In particular, in oblate ellipsoids the extrinsic and intrinsic elastic terms enforce conflicting tendencies to positions of TDs.