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Topology and Bistability in liquid crystal devices

A. Majumdar·C. J. P. Newton·J. M. R. Robbins·M. Zyskin
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Abstract

We study nematic liquid crystal configurations in a prototype bistable device - the Post Aligned Bistable Nematic (PABN) cell. Working within the Oseen-Frank continuum model, we describe the liquid crystal configuration by a unit-vector field, in a model version of the PABN cell. Firstly, we identify four distinct topologies in this geometry. We explicitly construct trial configurations with these topologies which are used as initial conditions for a numerical solver, based on the finite-element method. The morphologies and energetics of the corresponding numerical solutions qualitatively agree with experimental observations and suggest a topological mechanism for bistability in the PABN cell geometry.

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A. Majumdar, C. J. P. Newton, J. M. R. Robbins, M. Zyskin. 2006-11-08. Topology and Bistability in liquid crystal devices. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.75.051703

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