Deep optical penetration dynamics in photobending.
We model both the photostationary state and dynamics of an illuminated, photosensitive, glassy liquid crystalline sheet. To illustrate the interplay between local tilt θ of the sheet, effective incident intensity, curvature, and dynamics, we adopt the simplest variation of local incident light intensity with angle, that is, cosθ. The tilt in the stationary state never overshoots the vertical, but maximum curvature could be seen in the middle of the sheet for intense light. In dynamics, overshoot and self-eclipsing arise, revealing how important moving fronts of light penetration are. Eclipsing is qualitatively as in the experiments of Yu et al. [Y. Yu, M. Nakano, and T. Ikeda, Nature (London) 425, 145 (2003)].
Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, United Kingdom.
Daniel
D
Corbett
Department of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.|Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom.
Chen
C
Xuan
Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 19 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom.
Mark
M
Warner
D008027:Light; D050866:Liquid Crystals; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055620:Optical Phenomena