Co-revolving topological defects in a nematic liquid crystal. 2021

Adam L Susser, and Samo Kralj, and Charles Rosenblatt
Department of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, USA. rosenblatt@case.edu.

A patterned surface defect of strength m = +1 and its associated disclination lines can decompose into a pair of surface defects and disclination lines of strength m = +1/2. For a negative dielectric anisotropy liquid crystal subjected to an applied ac electric field E, these half-integer defects are observed to wobble azimuthally for E > than some threshold field and, for sufficiently large fields, to co-revolve antipodally around a central point approximately midway between the two defects. This behavior is elucidated experimentally as a function of applied field strength E and frequency ν, where the threshold field for full co-revolution scales as ν1/2. Concurrently, nematic electrohydrodynamic instabilities were investigated. A complete field vs. frequency "phase diagram" compellingly suggests that the induced fluctuations and eventual co-revolutions of the ordinarily static defects are coupled strongly to-and driven by-the presence of the hydrodynamic instability. The observed behaviour suggests a Lehmann-like mechanism that drives the co-revolution.

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