Equilibrium textures on nematic shells

Prof Luigi Vergori (Università degli Studi di Perugia)

Thursday 3rd March, 2022 14:00-15:00 Room 110/ZOOM (ID: 935 9677 5713)

Abstract

Within the framework of Landau–de Gennes theory for nematic liquid crystals, I will present the temperature induced isotropic-nematic phase transition on a spherical shell under the assumption of degenerate tangential anchoring. Below a critical temperature, a thin layer of a nematics coating a microscopic spherical particle exhibits nonuniform textures due to the geometrical frustration. These equilibrum textures are consistent with the Poincaré-Hopf index theorem and experimental observations.

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