Diffusion of helical particles in the screw-like nematic phase

G Cinacchi and AM Pintus and A Tani, JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 145, 134903 (2016).

DOI: 10.1063/1.4963016

The mechanism of diffusion of helical particles in the new screw-like nematic phase is studied by molecular dynamics numerical simulation. Several dynamical indicators have reported that evidence and microscopically characterise the special translo-rotational motion by which helical particles move in this chiral liquid-crystalline phase. Besides mean square displacements and diffusion coefficients resolved parallel and perpendicular to the nematic director, a suitable translo- rotational van Hove self-correlation function and a sequence of translational and rotational velocity, self-and distinct-, time correlation functions are calculated. The analysis of all these correlation functions elicits the operativeness of the aforementioned coupled mechanism and allows its short-and long-time quantitative characterisation. Published by AIP Publishing.

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