Salgado-Blanco Daniel, Llanas-García Andrea H, Díaz-Herrera Enrique, Martínez-González José A, Mendoza Carlos I
Cátedras CONACyT-Centro Nacional de Supercómputo, Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Camino a la Presa San José 2055, 78216, San Luis Potosí, México.
División de Materiales Avanzados, IPICYT, Camino a la Presa San José 2055, Col. Lomas 4a Sección, San Luis Potosí, S. L. P., 78216, México.
J Phys Condens Matter. 2022 Apr 20;34(25). doi: 10.1088/1361-648X/ac630b.
In this work, we performedMonte Carlo simulations of a Gay-Berne discotic liquid crystal confined in a spherical droplet under face-on anchoring and fixed pressure. We find that, in contrast to the unbounded system, a plot of the order parameter as function of temperature does not show a clear evidence of a first-order isotropic-nematic transition. We also find that the impossibility of simultaneously satisfy the uniform director field requirement of a nematic phase with the radial boundary conditions, results in the appearance of a ring disclination line as a stress release mechanism in the interior of the droplet. Under further cooling, a columnar phase appears at the center of the droplet.
在这项工作中，我们对在面锚定和固定压力下限制在球形液滴中的盖伊-伯内盘状液晶进行了蒙特卡罗模拟。我们发现，与无界系统不同，序参量随温度变化的曲线没有显示出明显的一级各向同性-向列相转变的证据。我们还发现，由于无法同时满足向列相的均匀指向矢场要求与径向边界条件，导致在液滴内部出现环形位错线作为一种应力释放机制。进一步冷却后，在液滴中心出现柱状相。
