%0 Journal Article
%T Dynamics of Nematic Liquid Crystal Disclinations: The Role of the Backflow
%+ Laboratoire des colloïdes, verres et nanomatériaux (LCVN)
%+ Groupe de Dynamique des Phases Condensées (GDPC)
%+ Department of Physics [Ljubljana]
%A Blanc, Christophe
%A Svenšek, D.
%A Žumer, S.
%A Nobili, Maurizio
%< avec comité de lecture
%@ 0031-9007
%J Physical Review Letters
%I American Physical Society
%V 95
%N 9
%P 097802
%8 2005-08
%D 2005
%R 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.097802
%K liquid crystals
%K defects
%K dynamic
%Z 61.30.Jf, 61.30.Hn, 61.72.Cc
%Z Physics [physics]/Condensed Matter [cond-mat]/Soft Condensed Matter [cond-mat.soft]Journal articles
%X We measure the electric-field-driven annihilation of nematic disclination pairs with strength ±1/2 in the 4−cyano−4′−n-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) liquid crystal. The use of a very weak azimuthal anchoring ensures a two-dimensional director field. The relaxation is governed by the formation of a π wall connecting the two opposite charge defects. The +1/2 disclinations move almost twice as fast as the −1/2 disclinations. The simple used geometry allows a quantitative comparison with numerical studies based on the hydrodynamics of the tensorial order parameter. The simulations show that in the π wall regime the symmetry breaking is due to the backflow and not to the elastic anisotropy.
%G English
%L hal-01207474
%U https://hal.science/hal-01207474
%~ CNRS
%~ UNIV-MONTP2
%~ LCVN
%~ UNIV-MONTPELLIER
%~ UM1-UM2