Some Features of a Continuum Description of Disclination Lines in Nematic Liquid Crystals

Abstract

This paper employs continuum theory to investigate orientation patterns in nematic liquid crystal in a long circular cylinder when a disclination line is coincident with the tube axis. Accepting Ericksen's hypothesis(1) that the disclination consists of a cylindrical core of isotropic fluid, it is of some interest to investigate the implications of associating an anisotropic surface energy with the nematic liquid crystal-isotropic core interface. To fix ideas, we consider the situation in which a radial orientation obtains at the cylinder wall while the surface energy dictates a parallel orientation at the interface, and examine particular forms of solution of the field equations appropriate to this arrangement. For each form discussed, more than one solution exists satisfying the boundary conditions employed, provided the tube radius is greater than a certain critical value. To distinguish between the various possibilities, we compare their energies anticipating that the solution with least energy is the one likely to occur.