Non-equilibrium phenomena driven by temperature difference in a cholesteric liquid crystalline droplet with air interface: structural formation with a topological change

Abstract

Processes of the structural formation in a cylindrical cholesteric droplet with air interface were observed and analyzed. Appling a constant temperature gradient and cooing the droplet from the isotropic state, we obtained the cholesteric droplet via the isotropic-cholesteric coexistence state. After that, by performing specific heating and cooling operations, we obtained the cholesteric droplet with a different structure from that before the operations. It is considered that this structural change is due to the formation and recombination of defect structures during the heating and cooling operations.