S=-1/2 Defect Line n(theta)=(sin(theta/2), cos(theta/2)) Winding number -1/2

Singular Core Defect Lines Can't End Nematic is Greek for Thread
Also Hedgehog Point Defect: Rare

• The Blue Phases: Introduction
• What Are Liquid Crystals?
• Order Parameter Fields
• Defects in Nematic Liquids
• Homotopy Theory and Defects
• Parallel Transport and Energy
• Twisted Parallelism: Chiral Nematics
• Chiral Nematic Phases: Helical and Blue
• Blue Phases: Networks of Defect Lines
• Defect Lines and Frustration: Curved Space

Links Back

Sethna's Research 90-94

Entertaining Science done at

LASSP.

James P. Sethna, sethna@lassp.cornell.edu

Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters, and Complexity, now available at Oxford University Press (USA, Europe).