Simulation and visualization of topological defects in nematic liquid crystals

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A. C. Callan-Jones and Robert A. Pelcovits
Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA

V. A. Slavin, S. Zhang, and D. H. Laidlaw
Department of Computer Science, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA

G. B. Loriot
Center for Computation and Visualization, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA

Received 30 August 2006; published 12 December 2006

Wepresent a method of visualizing topological defects arising in numericalsimulations of liquid crystals. The method is based on scientificvisualization techniques developed to visualize second-rank tensor fields, yielding informationnot only on the local structure of the field butalso on the continuity of these structures. We show howthese techniques can be used to first locate topological defectsin fluid simulations of nematic liquid crystals where the locationsare not known a priori and then study the propertiesof these defects including the core structure. We apply thesetechniques to simulation data obtained by previous authors who studieda rapid quench and subsequent equilibration of a Gay-Berne nematic.The quench produces a large number of disclination loops whichwe locate and track with the visualization methods. We showthat the cores of the disclination lines have a biaxialregion and the loops themselves are of a hybrid wedge-twistvariety.

URL:	http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.74.061701
DOI:	10.1103/PhysRevE.74.061701
PACS:	61.30.Jf 61.30.Jf Defects in liquid crystals YEAR: 2006
KEYWORDS:	nematic liquid crystals, liquid structure, disclinations, liquid theory

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