Hydrodynamics of Topological Defects in Nematic Liquid Crystals

2002/01/21 by Geza Toth, G. Tóth, Colin Denniston +1 · 1 citation
Computer Science · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.88.105504

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. Vol. 88, 105504(2002) · 4 pages including two figures

arxiv created 2002/01/21 · openalex publication_date 2002/02/26 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We show that backflow, the coupling between the order parameter and the velocity fields, has a significant effect on the motion of defects in nematic liquid crystals. In particular, the defect speed can depend strongly on the topological strength in two dimensions and on the sense of rotation of the director about the core in three dimensions.

Citations

• The Physics of Liquid Crystals

Cited by

• Liquid crystal [wikipedia]

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