Abstract
The unwinding of cholesteric twist has been observed in liquid-crystalline DNA near the cholesteric-hexagonal columnar phase boundary. Disclination lines are seen to bound regions of different total twist. A Monte Carlo simulation, applying a molecular statistical model for the cholesteric phase, is used to model this unwinding and the disclination lines. We find disclination lines corresponding to edge \ensuremath{\chi} lines. We also find evidence for \ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\tau} pairs. These results are in agreement with expectations from phenomenological Landau--de Gennes theory and homotopy. Furthermore, the results obtained can be used to describe the terraced morphology observed in the DNA system.
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