Circular flow formation triggered by Marangoni convection in nematic liquid crystal films with a free surface

Abstract

We demonstrate circular flow formation at a surface in homeotropically oriented nematic liquid crystals with a free surface using focused laser beam irradiation. Under a weak laser power, a pit together with an associated circular bulge is formed: the Marangoni effect. Here a diverging molecular flow from the pit (thermocapillary flow) also induces director tilt in the radial direction. Upon increasing the laser power, the pit becomes deeper, and eventually evolves into a circular flow associated with a deeper pit and a subsidiary circular bulge or valley structure. This phenomenon is induced by escaping from excess deformation energy due to a bend deformation of the director. Actually, we confirmed that the circular flow is never formed in the isotropic phase. The handedness of the vortex cannot be controlled by circular polarisation, but is controllable by doping with chiral molecules. This rotational motion (a nematic micro-rotor) is a unique phenomenon only exhibited by anisotropic liquids, and is expected to be applied for novel devices.