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arXiv · 2308.13226

Flexo-electricity of the dowser texture

Pawel Pieranski·Maria Helena Godinho
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Abstract

The persistent quasi-planar nematic texture known also as the dowser texture is characterized by a 2D unitary vector field d. We show here that the dowser texture is sensitive, in first order, to electric fields. This property is due to the flexo-electric polarisation P collinear with d expected from R.B. Meyer's considerations on flexo-electricity in nematics. It is pointed out that due to the flexo-electric polarisation nematic monopoles can be manipulated by electric fields of appropriated geometry.

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Pawel Pieranski, Maria Helena Godinho. 2023-08-25. Flexo-electricity of the dowser texture. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8sm02329h

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