EFFECT OF HYDRODYNAMIC FLOW ON KINETICS OF NEMATIC-ISOTROPIC TRANSITION IN LIQUID-CRYSTALS

We investigate kinetics of nematic-isotropic transition by solving the hydrodynamic equations for the nematic 3 x 3 tensor order parameter Q (alpha beta) and the fluid velocity in two space dimension (x-y plane) . Numerical results indicate that nematic directors tend to align para llel to the x-y plane when hydrodynamic flow is incorporated. Late sta ge growth exponents, phi(C), for the correlation length and phi(def) f or the number of topological defects, are not significantly altered by hydrodynamic flow. However, in contrast to the case without flow, the relation phi(def) = -2 phi(C) holds well, which may indicate the vali dity of dynamical scaling for the case with hydrodynamic flow.