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The Cosmological Kibble Mechanism in the Laboratory: String Formation in Liquid Crystals
The production of strings (disclination lines and loops) has been observed by means of the Kibble mechanism of domain (bubble) formation in the isotropic-nematic phase transition of the uniaxial nematic liquid crystal 4-cyano-4′-n-pentylbiphenyl. The number of strings formed per bubble is about 0.6....
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Published in: | Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1994-02, Vol.263 (5149), p.943-945 |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | The production of strings (disclination lines and loops) has been observed by means of the Kibble mechanism of domain (bubble) formation in the isotropic-nematic phase transition of the uniaxial nematic liquid crystal 4-cyano-4′-n-pentylbiphenyl. The number of strings formed per bubble is about 0.6. This value is in reasonable agreement with a numerical simulation of the experiment in which the Kibble mechanism is used for the order parameter space of a uniaxial nematic liquid crystal. |
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ISSN: | 0036-8075 1095-9203 |
DOI: | 10.1126/science.263.5149.943 |