Gradient theory of domain walls in thin, nematic liquid crystals films

TL;DR

This paper applies gradient theory to analyze the formation and location of domain walls in thin nematic liquid crystal films near the Fréedericksz transition, revealing their dependence on system parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a gradient theory framework to describe domain walls in nematic liquid crystals near the transition threshold, highlighting their occurrence in different stability regions.

Findings

Domain walls appear in the bistable region or at its border.

The occurrence of domain walls depends on system parameters.

The gradient theory effectively models the domain wall phenomena.

Abstract

In this paper we describe domain walls appearing in a thin, nematic liquid crystal sample subject to an external field with intensity close to the Fr\'eedericksz transition threshold. Using the gradient theory of the phase transition adopted to this situation, we show that depending on the parameters of the system, domain walls occur in the bistable region or at the border between the bistable and the monostable region.