Effect of an Electric Field and a Temperature Gradient on the Formation of a Hydrodynamic Flow in a Thin Nematic Capillary

Abstract

A theoretical description of the principles of nonmechanical transportation of microliter volumes of a liquid crystal (LC) encapsulated in a thin capillary is proposed. By numerical methods within a nonlinear generalization of the classical Ericksen–Leslie theory, various regimes of formation of a hydrodynamic flow in a uniformly oriented LC cavity under the action of a temperature gradient and a double electrostatic layer naturally arising at the LC/solid interface are investigated. The sizes of an LC capillary and the parameters of the necessary thermal effect capable of initiating a flow of the LC phase in the horizontal direction are found.