Dynamics of nematic elastomers
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-10 v2
Abstract
We study the low-frequency, long-wavelength dynamics of soft and semi-soft nematic elastomers using two different but related dynamic theories. Our first formulation describes the pure hydrodynamic behavior of nematic elastomers in which the nematic director has relaxed to its equilibrium value in the presence of strain. We find that the sound-modes structure for soft elastomers is identical to that of columnar liquid crystals. Our second formulation generalizes the derivation of the equations of nematohydrodynamics by the Harvard group to nematic elastomers. It treats the director explicitly and describes slow modes beyond the hydrodynamic limit.
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0311464,
title = {Dynamics of nematic elastomers},
author = {Olaf Stenull and T. C. Lubensky},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0311464},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
13 pages, 2 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev. E