title: The cosmological kibble mechanism in the laboratory: string formation in liquid crystals.
abstract: The production of strings (disclination lines and loops) has been observed by means of the Kibble mechanism of domain (bubble) formation in the isotropic-nematic phase transition of the uniaxial nematic liquid crystal 4-cyano-4'-n-pentylbiphenyl. The number of strings formed per bubble is about 0.6. This value is in reasonable agreement with a numerical simulation of the experiment in which the Kibble mechanism is used for the order parameter space of a uniaxial nematic liquid crystal.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bowick
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chandar
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Schiff
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Srivastava