title: Finite-size effects on order reconstruction around nematic defects.
abstract: By use of the Landau-de Gennes phenomenological theory, we study the texture of a nematic liquid crystal confined within a hybrid cell. Precisely, we consider cylindrically symmetric solutions containing topological defects dictated by appropriate boundary conditions. We focus our attention on cells whose dimensions are comparable with the biaxial correlation length xi(b) . For such severe confinements the order reconstruction (OR) configuration could be stable. Its structural details reflect the balance among boundary-enforced frustration, elastic penalties, and finite-size effects. In particular, we analyze the interplay between finite-size effects and topological defects. We show that defects are always pinned to the negatively (planar) uniaxial sheet of the OR structure. The presence of a ring defect can dramatically increase the critical threshold below which the OR structure is stable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Maribor, Koroska cesta 160, SI-2000 Maribor, Slovenia and Jozef Stefan Institute, PO Box 3000, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Samo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kralj
authors.forename: Riccardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rosso
authors.forename: Epifanio G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Virga