Defect Dynamics of a Nematic Polymer in a Magnetic Field

ABSTRACTAnalysis of the nonlinear dynamical response of a rod-like nematic liquid crystalline polymer, between parallel untreate plates, in a magnetic field is presented. Numerical solutions to the torque balance equations showthat when a uniformly aligned polymer is acted by a magnetic field normal to the initial polymer orientation an array of inversion walls develops. Stability analysis shows that the inversion walls are unstable to localized perturbations. The nonlinear resolution ofthe instability leads to the nucleation of an array of disclination line pairs of strength ±1/2. A perturbation analysis is used to obtain the evolution of the polymer structure towards equilibrium