Volume Phase Transitions of Heliconical Cholesteric Gels under an External Field along the Helix Axis

Abstract

We present a mean field theory to describe cholesteric elastomers and gels under an external field, such as an electric or a magnetic field, along the helix axis of a cholesteric phase. We study the deformations and volume phase transitions of cholesteric gels as a function of the external field and temperature. Our theory predicts the phase transitions between isotropic (I), nematic (N), and heliconical cholesteric (ChH) phases and the deformations of the elastomers at these phase transition temperatures. We also find volume phase transitions at the I−ChH and the N−ChH phase transitions.

Editorial on Special Issue “New Era in the Volume Phase Transition of Gels”

“…The kinetics of the volume phase transition is limited to the linear regime; hence, non-linear effects due to the elasticity of the polymer network is completely neglected. Taking a look at the articles in this Special Issue, we observe that the problems of the volume phase transition of gels raised above were discussed in-depth [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. We hope that this Special Issue will promote a better understanding of the volume phase transition of gels.…”