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Journal Articles Physical Review Letters Year : 2005

Backflow-Induced Asymmetric Collapse of Disclination Lines in Liquid Crystals

Abstract

We present experiments where opposed pairs of planar parallel disclination lines of topological strength s=± 1 move due to their mutual attraction. Our measurements show that their motion is clearly asymmetric, with +1 defects moving up to twice faster than -1 ones. This is a clear indication of backflow, given the intrinsic isotropic elasticity of our system. A phenomenological model is able to account for the experimental observations by renormalizing the orientational diffusivity estimated from the velocity of each defect.
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Dates and versions

ensl-00181087 , version 1 (24-10-2007)

Identifiers

  • HAL Id : ensl-00181087 , version 1

Cite

Patrick Oswald, Jordi Ignes-Mullol. Backflow-Induced Asymmetric Collapse of Disclination Lines in Liquid Crystals. Physical Review Letters, 2005, 95 (2), pp.027801. ⟨ensl-00181087⟩
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