Observation of stable phase jump lines in convection of a twisted nematic liquid crystal

Abstract

We report observations of stable, localized, linelike structures in the spatially periodic pattern formed by nematic electroconvection, along which the phase of the pattern jumps by pi. With increasing electric voltage, these lines form a gridlike structure that goes over into a structure indistinguishable from the well-known grid pattern. We present theoretical arguments that suggest that the twisted cell geometry we are using is indirectly stabilizing the phase jump lines, and that the phase jump lines lattice is caused by an interaction of phase jump lines and a zig-zag instability of the surrounding pattern.

Global behavior of solutions to chevron pattern equations

“…Furthermore, employing the estimates ( 13) and ( 14), we can now prove that the solution of the problem is unique. Suppose that [A, ϕ] and [Ã,φ] are solutions of the system (1) and ( 2) corresponding to initial data [A 0 , ϕ 0 ] and [Ã 0 ,φ 0 ], respectively, then where D 0 = min{D 1 , D 2 }, as in (11). We will estimate each term on the right-hand side of the inequality (17) by employing ( 13), Hölder's inequality, Cauchy's inequality, and the Ladyzhenskaya inequality,…”