Nucleation in liquid crystals and liquid crystal polymers

A nematic mixture that undergoes a first-order phase transition to an ordered state is considered. The dynamics of the phase separation in terms of a theory based on a time-dependent Landau–Ginzburg equation is described. The laws of growth and dissolution for isotropic and anisotropic droplets are discussed. An example is given for a bidisperse and a polydisperse (liquid crystal polymer) sample. The possibility of spinodal decomposition in these systems is also explored.