Biomedical subjects

E G Virga

Publications and source records attributed to E G Virga.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Periodic saddle-splay Freedericksz transition in nematic liquid crystals.

By use of a local stability criterion recently introduced, we predict the existence of a periodic saddle-splay Freedericksz (PSSF) transition that adds to the existing class of classical Freedericksz transitions driven in a nematic cell by an external field. Occurrence of the PSSF transition requires a saddle-splay elastic constant with a large enough magnitude and different anchoring strengths at the plates confining the nematic cell. Otherwise, either the PSSF transition does not occur at all, or it requires a field higher than that associated with the classical aperiodic splay Freedericksz (ASF) transition, in which case it is not observable. Here, we determine the threshold field for which the PSSF precedes the ASF transition, as well as the structure of the destabilizing mode.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2004

Electric field induced order reconstruction in a nematic cell.

We have experimentally observed the biaxial switching between two topologically distinct textures of a nematic liquid crystal cell submitted to a strong electric field. The effect is deduced from optical and electrical measurements across the cell. Above a static threshold, a bulk order reconstruction is observed, where the final nematic orientation in the centre becomes perpendicular to its initial one, inducing a total pi change of orientation across the cell. Using short electric field pulses, a higher dynamical threshold is observed. These experiments are explained by a Landau-de Gennes-Khalatnikov model. The threshold implies the local exchange of two eigenvalues of the nematic order tensor through intermediate biaxial states. The onset of the effect in a thin splay-bend wall decreases the static threshold by almost an order of magnitude. The model explains reasonably well the static and dynamic measurements within the present description of nematic biaxiality.

Electricity↗

PubMed2001

Dynamics of dissipative ordered fluids.

A variational principle is proposed that allows to derive the equations of motion for a fluid with a general microstructure described by a tensorial order parameter. The only constitutive ingredients are the densities of the free energy and the dissipation, both subject to appropriate invariance requirements. As an illustration, it is shown how the hydrodynamic theory for uniaxial nematic liquid crystals can be derived within this setting.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1999

Biaxial torus around nematic point defects.

We study the biaxial structure of both line and point defects in a nematic liquid crystal confined within a capillary tube whose lateral boundary enforces homeotropic anchoring. According to Landau-de Gennes theory the local order in the material is described by a second-order tensor Q, which encompasses both uniaxial and biaxial states. Our study is both analytical and numerical. We show that the core of a line defect with topological charge M=1 is uniaxial in the axial direction. At the lateral boundary, the uniaxial ordering along the radial direction is reached in two qualitatively different ways, depending on the sign of the order parameter on the axis. The point defects with charge M=+/-1 exhibit a uniaxial ring in the plane orthogonal to the cylinder axis. This ring is in turn surrounded by a torus on which the degree of biaxiality attains its maximum. The typical lengths that characterize the structure of these defects depend both on the cylinder radius and the biaxial correlation length. It seems that the core of the point defect does not depend on the far nematic director field in the bulk limit.

Journal Article↗