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Crossing Of Disclinations In Nematic Slabs, T. Ishikawa, Oleg Lavrentovich

Oleg Lavrentovich

It is shown experimentally that crossing and intercommutation of disclinations in a bounded nematic cell depend on surface orientation of the director and the relative strength of disclinations. Lines of opposite strength switch the pinned ends between the bounding plates and vanish independently of each other if the surface orientation is tangential. In contrast, tilted surface orientation preserves the stability of lines.