Transformation from walls to disclination lines : Statics and dynamics of the pincement transition

Titelangaben

de Lózar, Alberto ; Schöpf, Wolfgang ; Rehberg, Ingo ; Svenšek, Daniel ; Kramer, Lorenz:
Transformation from walls to disclination lines : Statics and dynamics of the pincement transition.
In: Physical Review E. Bd. 72 (2005) Heft 5 . - 051713.
ISSN 1550-2376
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.72.051713

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Abstract

We present an experimental and theoretical study of the pincement phenomenon—transformation of a wall associated with the Fréedericksz transition into a pair of disclination lines. We measure the velocity of the boundary (front) between the two states as a function of the voltage. Experimental results are recovered by numerical simulations based on the nematic tensor order parameter, which also reveal the detailed three-dimensional structure of the front. By introducing reduced models we obtain approximate expressions for the two-state coexistence voltage and the front velocity. We find a bifurcation scenario incorporating a pair of saddle nodes at which the wall and disclination solutions appear or disappear.