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On the Defect Structure of Biaxial Nematic Droplets

We present a detailed Monte Carlo study of the effects of molecular biaxiality on the defect created at the centre of a nematic droplet with radial anchoring at the surface. We have studied a lattice model based on a dispersive potential for biaxial mesogens [Luckhurst et al., Mol. Phys. 30, 1345 (1...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chiccoli, C., Evangelista, L. R., Pasini, P., Skačej, G., Teixeira de Souza, R., Zannoni, C.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5794765/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29391472
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-20492-0
Descripción
Sumario:We present a detailed Monte Carlo study of the effects of molecular biaxiality on the defect created at the centre of a nematic droplet with radial anchoring at the surface. We have studied a lattice model based on a dispersive potential for biaxial mesogens [Luckhurst et al., Mol. Phys. 30, 1345 (1975)] to investigate how increasing the biaxiality influences the molecular organisation inside the confined system. The results are compared with those obtained from a continuum theory approach. We find from both approaches that the defect core size increases by increasing the molecular biaxiality, hinting at a non universal behaviour previously not reported.