Elastic moduli of blue phases of cholesteric liquid crystals with low chirality

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Chizhikov, V. A., Dmitrienko, V. E.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Chizhikov, V. A.
Dmitrienko, V. E.
author_facet Chizhikov, V. A.
Dmitrienko, V. E.
contents A new theoretical approach has been developed to describe the elastic properties of cubic blue phases of cholesteric liquid crystals (LCs). Blue phases are three-dimensional periodic chiral liquids with local anisotropy of the average orientation of molecules, and due to their periodicity, they have lattice elastic moduli characteristic of ordinary crystalline solids. The rigid tensor approximation, which works well at low chirality parameter ($κ\ll1$), was used to calculate the elastic moduli of the experimentally observed blue phases $O^8$ (BPI) and $O^2$ (BPII). It is shown that in the one-constant approximation for Frank moduli of LCs ($K_{11}=K_{22}=K_{33}$), the cubic lattice of blue phases has isotropic elasticity, and the Lamé's first parameter $λ_\mathrm{L}$ and Poisson's ratio $ν$ are equal to zero. It is found that the sign of the Poisson's ratio is determined by the ratio of elastic moduli $K_0/K_1$; in particular, when $K_0>K_1$, the Poisson's ratio is negative.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_20987
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Elastic moduli of blue phases of cholesteric liquid crystals with low chirality
Chizhikov, V. A.
Dmitrienko, V. E.
Soft Condensed Matter
A new theoretical approach has been developed to describe the elastic properties of cubic blue phases of cholesteric liquid crystals (LCs). Blue phases are three-dimensional periodic chiral liquids with local anisotropy of the average orientation of molecules, and due to their periodicity, they have lattice elastic moduli characteristic of ordinary crystalline solids. The rigid tensor approximation, which works well at low chirality parameter ($κ\ll1$), was used to calculate the elastic moduli of the experimentally observed blue phases $O^8$ (BPI) and $O^2$ (BPII). It is shown that in the one-constant approximation for Frank moduli of LCs ($K_{11}=K_{22}=K_{33}$), the cubic lattice of blue phases has isotropic elasticity, and the Lamé's first parameter $λ_\mathrm{L}$ and Poisson's ratio $ν$ are equal to zero. It is found that the sign of the Poisson's ratio is determined by the ratio of elastic moduli $K_0/K_1$; in particular, when $K_0>K_1$, the Poisson's ratio is negative.
title Elastic moduli of blue phases of cholesteric liquid crystals with low chirality
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.20987