Spontaneous and field-induced evolutions of 2D patterns in fingerprint chiral textures

The spontaneous and field-induced evolutions of 2D patterns in fingerprint chiral textures (FCTs) in a cell treated with homeotropic alignment layers are reported. The study focuses on the stable FCTs#1 (weak scattering state) and stable FCTs#4 (strong scattering state), which are the two stable states of FCTs, and the formations of stable FCTs#1 with rounded polygonal spiral textures (RPSTs) and field-induced FCTs#1 domains with RPSTs. The formations can be explained by the ripping process of corn cells on a cob. The formation mechanisms of the stable FCTs#1 through the spontaneous evolution and stable FCTs#4 through a driving scheme are investigated. Homeotropic anchoring forces play important roles in the spontaneous evolution of FCTs to form the stable FCTs#1 and determine the existence of stable FCTs#4. Field-induced FCTs#1/FCTs#2/FCTs#3 are also investigated. The concept that FCTs tend to minimize the free energy by changing their arrangement is the key to elucidate several mechanisms/concepts in this paper. The driving scheme to switch between the stable FCTs#1 and stable FCTs#4 is reported. These bistable states can be applied to electronics to reduce power consumption.