Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 21: Pattern Formation

DY 21.1: Talk

Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 15:00–15:15, HÜL 186

Pattern selection in liquid crystal growth — •Martin von Kurnatowski and Klaus Kassner — Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Department of Theoretical Physics, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg

The interface of a smectic liquid crystal growing in its undercooled nematic phase forms dendritic patterns. The problem can be described by a simple symmetric diffusion model. In the case of liquid crystals heat transport is anisotropic. However, anisotropic surface tension is required to stabilize the pattern and determine its length scale. The growth is faster in the direction of less efficient heat transport ("inverted growth"). Any physical solution should include this feature.

The solution is derived from an expansion about the case without capillary effects. Including anisotropic surface tension yields an eigenvalue problem for the growth mode. We solve this selection problem of dendritic growth in anisotropic diffusion using the method presented by us in [1]. The length scale is predicted and a quantitative description of the inverted growth phenomenon is given.
[1] M. von Kurnatowski et al., Phys. Rev. E 87 042405 (2013)