Relaxation of a field-unwound cholesteric liquid crystal

Abstract

We have numerically investigated the homogeneous-planar and homeotropic-planar transitions, respectively, in a planar-aligned cholesteric liquid crystal by using our multidimensional software based on the finite element method. When the unwinding field is turned off abruptly, the relaxation process of a field-unwound cholesteric liquid crystal is accompanied by an elastic-induced Helfrich deformation without introduction of defects, which will continuously convert into a stable planar texture with natural pitch and domain wall.