Effect of rotating magnetic field on orientational dynamics of ferrocholesteric liquid crystals

Abstract We present numerical and analytical results describing the dynamics of a helical orientational structure of a ferrocholesteric liquid crystal, i.e., dilute suspension of ferromagnetic nanoparticles in a cholesteric liquid crystal, under the action of a rotating magnetic field. We employ the continuum theory to show how rotating magnetic field can untwist the helical ferrocholesteric structure and induce a ferrocholesteric–ferronematic transition. We analyze the non-stationary and stationary rotation regimes of the helical structure of a ferrocholesteric in a magnetic field. For weak fields, small and large rotational velocities the analytical expressions are obtained for the pitch of the ferrocholesteric helix. In the stationary rotational regime the orientational phase diagram of the ferrocholesteric–ferronematic transition is constructed for different values of magnetic field and angular velocities. It is shown that with increasing these parameters the transition field decreases. The dependence of a ferrocholesteric pitch on the magnetic field and its angular velocity at various material parameters is numerically obtained. We derive the analytical expression describing the divergence law for the pitch of a helix in the pre-transition region.