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SUMMARY:Design of effective bulk potentials for nematic liquid crystals vi
 a homogenisation - Giacomo Canevari (BCAM - Basque Center for Applied Math
 ematics)
DTSTART:20190114T143000Z
DTEND:20190114T151500Z
UID:TALK116869@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:INI IT
DESCRIPTION:The material properties of a given nematic liquid crystal may 
 be altered by dopants\, i.e. suspended micro- to nano- particles in the ne
 matic host. Even under weak anchoring conditions at the surface of the inc
 lusions\, and in the so-called "dilute regime" (i.e.\, when the total volu
 me occupied by the inclusions is small)\, dopants can still have a signifi
 cant effect\; for instance\, they can modify the nematic-isotropic transit
 ion temperature. In this talk\, we consider a Landau-de Gennes model for a
  periodic suspension of small colloidal inclusions in a nematic host. By s
 tudying the homogenised limit\, and proving rigorous convergence results f
 or local minimisers\, we compute the effective free energy for the doped m
 aterial. In particular\, we show that not only the phase transition temper
 ature\, but any coefficient of the quartic Landau-de Gennes bulk potential
  can be tuned. The talk is based on a joint work with Arghir D. Zarnescu (
 BCAM\, Bilbao\, Spain).
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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