Non-uniform localised distortions in generalised elasticity for liquid crystals

TL;DR

This paper explores a generalized elastic energy model for liquid crystals, revealing new localized Skyrmion tube structures through analytical and numerical solutions, expanding understanding of complex liquid crystal configurations.

Contribution

It introduces novel localized liquid crystal configurations called Skyrmion tubes within a generalized quartic elastic energy framework.

Findings

Discovery of Skyrmion tube-like structures in liquid crystals.

Analytical approximations and numerical solutions of equilibrium equations.

Identification of localized distortions in generalized elasticity models.

Abstract

We analyse a recent generalised free-energy for liquid crystals posited by Virga and falling in the class of quartic functionals in the spatial gradients of the nematic director. We review some known interesting solutions, i. e., uniform heliconical structures, and we find new liquid crystal configurations, which closely resemble some novel, experimentally detected, structures called Skyrmion tubes. These new configurations are characterised by a localised pattern given by the variation of the conical angle. We study the equilibrium differential equations and find numerical solutions and analytical approximations.