# Phase Transitions in Nematics: Textures with Tactoids and Disclinations

## TL;DR

This paper models the isotropic-to-nematic phase transition in liquid crystals using a generalized Landau-de Gennes framework, successfully reproducing textures with tactoids and disclinations observed experimentally.

## Contribution

It introduces a specific elastic constant combination in the Landau-de Gennes theory to accurately simulate phase transition textures.

## Key findings

- Qualitative reproduction of experimentally observed nematic textures.
- Successful modeling of interfaces and topological defects.
- Validation of the generalized Landau-de Gennes approach.

## Abstract

We demonstrate that a first order isotropic-to-nematic phase transition in liquid crystals can be succesfully modeled within the generalized Landau-de Gennes theory by selecting an appropriate combination of elastic constants. The numerical simulations of the model established in this paper qualitatively reproduce the experimentally observed configurations that include interfaces and topological defects in the nematic phase.