Structural Landscapes in Geometrically Frustrated Smectics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a phenomenological free energy model for smectic liquid crystals, enabling numerical simulation of complex structures like focal conic domains and oily streaks caused by geometric frustration.

Contribution

The paper presents a new free energy model for smectics that captures complex frustrated structures and allows detailed numerical exploration of their energy landscapes.

Findings

Emergence of focal conic domains and oily streaks in simulations

Rich energy landscapes characterized for frustrated smectic configurations

Model facilitates detailed numerical analysis of smectic behaviors

Abstract

A phenomenological free energy model is proposed to describe the behavior of smectic liquid crystals, an intermediate phase that exhibits orientational order and layering at the molecular scale. Advantageous properties render the functional amenable to numerical simulation. The model is applied to a number of scenarios involving geometric frustration, leading to emergent structures such as focal conic domains and oily streaks and enabling detailed elucidation of the very rich energy landscapes that arise in these problems.