Twisted loxodromes in spindle-shaped polymer nematics

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Hauptverfasser: Ansell, Helen S., Kamien, Randall D.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2021
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author Ansell, Helen S.
Kamien, Randall D.
author_facet Ansell, Helen S.
Kamien, Randall D.
contents We develop an energetic model that captures the twisting behavior of spindle-shaped polymer microparticles with nematic ordering, which display remarkably different twisting behavior to ordinary nematics confined to spindles. We have previously developed a geometric model of the twisting, based on experimental observations, in which we showed that the twist pattern follows loxodrome spirals [Ansell et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 123, 157801 (2019)]. In this study, we first consider a spindle-shaped surface and show that the loxodrome twisting behavior of our system can be captured by the Frank free energy of the nematic with an additional term constraining the length of the integral curves of the system. We then extend the ideas of this model to the bulk and explore the parameter space for which the twisted loxodrome solution is energetically favorable.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2105_11526
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Twisted loxodromes in spindle-shaped polymer nematics
Ansell, Helen S.
Kamien, Randall D.
Soft Condensed Matter
We develop an energetic model that captures the twisting behavior of spindle-shaped polymer microparticles with nematic ordering, which display remarkably different twisting behavior to ordinary nematics confined to spindles. We have previously developed a geometric model of the twisting, based on experimental observations, in which we showed that the twist pattern follows loxodrome spirals [Ansell et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 123, 157801 (2019)]. In this study, we first consider a spindle-shaped surface and show that the loxodrome twisting behavior of our system can be captured by the Frank free energy of the nematic with an additional term constraining the length of the integral curves of the system. We then extend the ideas of this model to the bulk and explore the parameter space for which the twisted loxodrome solution is energetically favorable.
title Twisted loxodromes in spindle-shaped polymer nematics
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.11526