Defects in the twist-bend nematic phase: Stabilities and instabilities of focal conic domains and related topics

Maurice Kleman (1) , Kanakapura S. Krishnamurthy

1 IPGP - Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris

This article provides an explanation for the instability of toric focal conic domains and the stability of parabolic focal conic domains in the twist-bend nematic (N_TB) phase, by reason of the presence (the first case) or absence (the second case) of defect densities attached to the conics, which are disclinations. This result is obtained after a reminder of the theory of attached defects (the extended Volterra process) and is followed by its usage in other cases (dislocations, disclinations, dispirations, double helices) in the N_TB phase. The notion of spin disclination is introduced.

Domaines: Planète et Univers [physics]

Maurice Kleman, Kanakapura S. Krishnamurthy. Defects in the twist-bend nematic phase: Stabilities and instabilities of focal conic domains and related topics. Physical Review E , 2018, 98, pp.1009-1033. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevE.98.032705⟩. ⟨insu-03589328⟩