Chirality-Biased Point Defects Dynamics on a Disclination Line in a Nematic Liquid Crystal

TL;DR

This study investigates how chiral additives influence the movement and interactions of point defects on disclination lines in nematic liquid crystals, revealing force dynamics and defect removal mechanisms through experiments and simulations.

Contribution

It demonstrates the effect of chiral additives on defect dynamics, providing direct evidence of repulsive forces and defect elimination in nematic liquid crystals.

Findings

Chiral additives induce bimodal defect distance distributions.

Repulsive forces between defects are confirmed.

Sufficient chiral doping removes all point defects.

Abstract

Chiral additives in the nematic liquid crystal can alter the dynamics of point defects moving on a disclination line. They exert a constant force on defects, leading to the bimodal distribution of distances between them at long times. The evolution of the system of defects in the presence of chiral additives provides a very direct proof of the existence of repulsive forces between the defects at large distances. We find that addition of a sufficient amount of chiral compound removes all point defects from the system. The process is studied in the system of 8CB (4-n-octyl-4 '-cyanobiphenyl) doped with the chiral compound S811 (from Merck Co.) and in the computer simulations.