Packing Focal Conic Domains

Focal conic domains form in both smectic and cholesteric phases. They are highly regular even though they are not global ground states of the systems. When cholesteric films are confined to spherical drops, the focal conic domains pack into complex and compelling structures. In this talk, I will explain how to understand these domains geometrically and provide insight into how they pack on finite geometries. There are no prerequisites.

Part of the NSCS webinar series https://softmatterisrael.wixsite.com/nscs