Orientational structures in cholesteric droplets with homeotropic surface anchoring.

Krakhalev, Mikhail N; Rudyak, Vladimir Yu; Prishchepa, Oxana O; Gardymova, Anna P; Emelyanenko, Alexander V; Liu, Jui-Hsiang; Zyryanov, Victor Ya · Soft Matter · 2019

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The dependency of orientational structures in cholesteric droplets with homeotropic surface anchoring on the helicity parameter has been studied by experiment and simulations. We have observed a sequence of structures, in which the director configurations and topological defects were identified by comparison of polarized microscopy pictures with simulated textures. A toron-like and low-symmetry intermediate layer-like structures have been revealed and studied in detail. The ranges of stability of the observed structures have been summarized in a general diagram and explained by the helicity parameter dependence of the free energy terms.