Revisiting the two-dimensional defect-free azimuthal nematic equilibrium on an annulus

Journal article

We study the azimuthal defect-free nematic state on a two-dimensional annulus within a simplified and reduced two-dimensional Landau–de Gennes model for nematic liquid crystals. We perform a detailed asymptotic analysis of the instabilities of the defect-free state in terms of a dimensionless material and temperature-dependent variable and the annular aspect ratio. The asymptotic analysis is accompanied by a rigorous local stability result, again in terms of a dimensionless material and temperature-dependent parameter and annular aspect ratio. In contrast to Oseen-Frank predictions, the defect-free state can be unstable in this model, with elastic isotropy and strong anchoring, for a range of macroscopically relevant annular aspect ratios.

Authors: Lewis, A; Aarts, D; Howell, P; Majumdar, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
• Journal: SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics
• Volume: 77
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 1851–1875
• Publication date: 2017-11-02
• Acceptance date: 2017-08-15
• DOI: 10.1137/17M1124656
• EISSN: 1095-712X
• ISSN: 0036-1399