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arXiv · 1507.05588

Orientational properties of nematic disclinations

Arthur J. Vromans·Luca Giomi
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Abstract

Topological defects play a pivotal role in the physics of liquid crystals and represent one of the most prominent and well studied aspects of mesophases. While in two-dimensional nematics, disclinations are traditionally treated as point-like objects, recent experimental studies on active nematics have suggested that half-strength disclinations might in fact possess a polar structure. In this article, we provide a precise definition of polarity for half-strength nematic disclinations, we introduce a simple and robust method to calculate this quantity from experimental and numerical data and we investigate how the orientational properties of half-strength disclinations affect their relaxational dynamics.

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Arthur J. Vromans, Luca Giomi. 2015-07-20. Orientational properties of nematic disclinations. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6sm01146b

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