The Freedericksz transition in a spatially varying magnetic field

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a spatially varying magnetic field affects the Freedericksz transition in nematic liquid crystals, revealing that the transition can be suppressed when the field's magnitude varies across the cell.

Contribution

It introduces the study of the Freedericksz transition under non-uniform magnetic fields, showing the transition can vanish with spatially varying field strength.

Findings

The transition vanishes when the magnetic field varies in the plane.

Spatial variation of the magnetic field suppresses the Freedericksz transition.

The response differs significantly from the uniform field case.

Abstract

Much is known about the Freedericksz transition induced by uniform electric and magnetic fields in nematic liquid crystals. Here we study the effects of a spatially varying field on the transition. We study the response of a nematic to a magnetic field with cylindrical symmetry, and find that since the field magnitude varies in the plane of the cell, the transition vanishes.