Static strain waves in cholesteric liquid crystals. - I. homeotropic boundary conditions

Abstract

Periodic strain waves have been studied using dilute solutions of cholesteric liquid crystals in nematic solvents. Experimental observations are in qualitative agreement with computer solutions of one constant elasticity theory. For the boundary conditions of parallel plates with homeotropic pinning of the director field a periodic solution is found to have slightly lower energy than the solution which is translationally invariant in the plane of the plates when a critical thickness is exceeded.