Flexoelectric distortion of developable domains in a tubular discotic liquid crystal

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Abstract
We compute the flexoelectric distortion of a developable domain in a tubular discotic liquid crystal phase, submitted to a D.C. electric field. The strong radial polarization, related to the permanent bend of the tubes, does not contribute to the texture distortion, by symmetry. The tubes undergo simply a divergence distortion, the tube circles being shifted from one to another, towards the field. The effect is observed in hexapentoxytriphenylene, close to the transition temperature to the isotropic phase. Interference fringes in polarized light shift away from and towards the core of the developable domain, under the action of a 1 Hz electric field. The ratio of flexo to elastic constants (for the 2D hexagonal tube crystal) is of order 10-6 cgs. The flexo divergence constant is negative, in contrast to classical rod-like liquid crystals

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