Spontaneous emergence of chirality in achiral lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals confined to cylinders

Karthik Nayani, Rui Chang, Jinxin Fu, Perry W. Ellis, Alberto Fernandez-Nieves, Jung Ok Park and Mohan Srinivasarao ()
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Karthik Nayani: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Rui Chang: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Jinxin Fu: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Perry W. Ellis: School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
Alberto Fernandez-Nieves: School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology
Jung Ok Park: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Mohan Srinivasarao: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The presumed ground state of a nematic fluid confined in a cylindrical geometry with planar anchoring corresponds to that of an axial configuration, wherein the director, free of deformations, is along the long axis of the cylinder. However, upon confinement of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals in cylindrical geometries, here we uncover a surprising ground state corresponding to a doubly twisted director configuration. The stability of this ground state, which involves significant director deformations, can be rationalized by the saddle-splay contribution to the free energy. We show that sufficient anisotropy in the elastic constants drives the transition from a deformation-free ground state to a doubly twisted structure, and results in spontaneous symmetry breaking with equal probability for either handedness. Enabled by the twist angle measurements of the spontaneous twist, we determine the saddle-splay elastic constant for chromonic liquid crystals for the first time.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9067

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