2008/04/30 by Amit Bhattacharjee, A. K. Bhattacharjee, Gautam I. Menon +1 · 3 citations
Materials Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Ansatz #Biaxial nematic #Condensed matter physics #Geometry #Isotropy #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Liquid crystal #Material Dynamics and Properties #Materials science #Mathematics #Nucleation #Optics #Phase (matter) #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Scaling #Theoretical and Computational Physics #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.78.026707
arxiv created 2008/04/30 · openalex publication_date 2008/08/19 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We propose an efficient numerical scheme, based on the method of lines, for solving the Landau-de Gennes equations describing the relaxational dynamics of nematic liquid crystals. Our method is computationally easy to implement, balancing requirements of efficiency and accuracy. We benchmark our method through the study of the following problems: the isotropic-nematic interface, growth of nematic droplets in the isotropic phase, and the kinetics of coarsening following a quench into the nematic phase. Our results, obtained through solutions of the full coarse-grained equations of motion with no approximations, provide a stringent test of the de Gennes ansatz for the isotropic-nematic interface, illustrate the anisotropic character of droplets in the nucleation regime, and validate dynamical scaling in the coarsening regime.