Experimental test of curvature-driven dynamics in the phase ordering of a two dimensional liquid crystal

TL;DR

This study experimentally verifies that the curvature-driven coarsening process in a two-dimensional liquid crystal system follows the Allen-Cahn universality class, using domain size statistics to confirm theoretical predictions.

Contribution

The paper provides experimental evidence that deracemization in bent-core liquid crystals is a curvature-driven process consistent with the Allen-Cahn universality class, validating recent theoretical formulas.

Findings

Experimental data matches theoretical distribution of domain sizes

Deracemization process belongs to the Allen-Cahn universality class

Exact domain size distribution formula is validated

Abstract

We study electric field driven deracemization in an achiral liquid crystal through the formation and coarsening of chiral domains. It is proposed that deracemization in this system is a curvature-driven process. We test this prediction using the exact result for the distribution of hull-enclosed areas in two-dimensional coarsening in non-conserved scalar order parameter dynamics recently obtained [J.J. Arenzon et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 061116 (2007)]. The experimental data are in very good agreement with the theory. We thus demonstrate that deracemization in such bent-core liquid crystals belongs to the Allen-Cahn universality class, and that the exact formula, which gives us the statistics of domain sizes during coarsening, can also be used as a strict test for this dynamic universality class.