Coarsening in bent-core liquid crystals: a molecular dynamics study

Abstract

We use molecular dynamics simulations to study coarsening dynamics in achiral banana-shaped bent-core liquid crystals following a quench from the high concentration polar smectic (SmX) phase to lower concentrations that favor the exotic twist-bend (TB) phase. Our novel result is the identification of an intermediate splay-bend state emerging prior to the eventual TB phase. The latter coarsens via the annihilation of beta lines which are analogous to string defects in nematic liquid crystals. Our findings are relevant for a large class of chiral systems assembled from achiral entities.