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SUMMARY:Constrained Energy Minimization for Bent-Core Liquid Crystals - Li
 dia Mrad (University of Arizona)
DTSTART:20190516T150000Z
DTEND:20190516T154000Z
UID:TALK124597@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:INI IT
DESCRIPTION:One of the important applications of liquid crystal materials 
 is their use in optical and display devices. There are several phases of l
 iquid crystals\, some of which promise more efficient and less expensive o
 ptical devices than others. A recently discovered phase is made up of bow-
 shaped molecules\, a characteristic that endows them with spontaneous ferr
 oelectricity. Under the effect of an applied electric field\, two competin
 g mechanisms of switching can be detected in the tilted structure of these
  materials. An important question in this setup is how the dominant mechan
 ism - switching here - is affected by specific system parameters. We formu
 late the model as an energy minimization problem allowing us to use severa
 l variational tools in its analysis. We emphasize how we can deal with cha
 llenges that arise from constraints and nonlinearities peculiar to this pr
 oblem. Our results address existence and uniqueness of solutions to the en
 suing partial differential equations\, which in turn shed light on the phy
 sical mechanisms observed.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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