https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2013-13121-1
Regular Article
Phase separation and disorder in doped nematic elastomers
1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, 32000, Haifa, Israel
2
Département de Physique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, CNRS, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005, Paris, France
3
Minerva Center for Nonlinear Physics of Complex Systems, Technion, 32000, Haifa, Israel
* e-mail: pismen@techunix.technion.ac.il
Received:
5
August
2013
Revised:
23
September
2013
Accepted:
30
September
2013
Published online:
28
October
2013
We formulate and analyse a model describing the combined effect of mechanical deformation, dynamics of the nematic order parameter, and concentration inhomogeneities in an elastomeric mixture of a mesogenic and an isotropic component. The uniform nematic state may exhibit a long-wave instability corresponding to nematic-isotropic demixing. Numerical simulations starting from either a perfectly ordered nematic state or a quenched isotropic state show that coupling between the mesogen concentration and the nematic order parameter influences the shape and orientation of the domains formed during the demixing process.
Key words: Flowing matter: Nonlinear Physics
© EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2013