NUMERICAL RESOLUTION OF THE CHOLESTERIC UNWINDING TRANSITION PROBLEM

Some equilibrium configurations of the cholesteric unwinding transitio n problem are numerically computed using the Landau-de Gennes expressi on of the liquid crystal free energy density. The classical TIC and mo dulated TIC configurations are numerically obtained and the cholesteri c finger structure is found to be in good agreement with the previous theoretical guesses. Moreover, we report the existence of new solution s, specifically associated with the local n --> n symmetry, and which seem to be experimentally observed.