Topological Defects in Nematic Droplets of Hard Spherocylinders

Details Topological Defects in Nematic Droplets of Hard Spherocylinders Topological Defects in Nematic Droplets of Hard Spherocylinders

1999-06-25

arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/9906388v2

Physical Review E 62, 5081-5091 (2000)

Physics

Condensed Matter

Soft Condensed Matter

13 pages, 16 figures, Phys. Rev. E

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevE.62.5081

Using computer simulations we investigate the microscopic structure of the singular director field within a nematic droplet. As a theoretical model for nematic liquid crystals we take hard spherocylinders. To induce an overall topological charge, the particles are either confined to a two-dimensional circular cavity with homeotropic boundary or to the surface of a three-dimensional sphere. Both systems exhibit half-integer topological point defects. The isotropic defect core has a radius of the order of one particle length and is surrounded by free-standing density oscillations. The effective interaction between two defects is investigated. All results should be experimentally observable in thin sheets of colloidal liquid crystals.

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