title: Formation of liquid-crystal cholesteric pitch in the centimeter range.
abstract: The formation of a macroscopic cholesteric spiral in a nematic liquid crystal (LC) doped with chiral molecules is studied. Measurements of the orientation of the disclination line formed in a LC θ-cell manufactured with one substrate having linear in-plane alignment and the opposing substrate having circular alignment showed the formation of a uniform macroscopic cholesteric spiral with a pitch length of centimeters. We found a linear dependence of the reciprocal pitch p(-1) on the concentration c in a wide range of p, extending from micrometers up to several centimeters. It suggests that the pitch of a spiral in a nematic LC doped with chiral dopants results from a long-range orientation owing to short-range chiral interactions in the vicinity of the chiral additive.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev 03680, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kasyanyuk
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS, Universite Paris-Sud, Orsay 91405, France.
authors.forename: Kostyantyn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Slyusarenko
authors.affiliation: Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: West
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev 03680, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vasnetsov
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev 03680, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Yuriy
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Reznikov
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular; D044367:Phase Transition; D013237:Stereoisomerism