Twist-energy-driven helfrich modulations in cholesteric liquid crystals illustrated in the transient-planar to planar transition

The complete time evolution of a Helfrich-type instability that is driven by twist energy in a cholesteric liquid crystal is presented. The modulation is investigated using an initially uniform planar director configuration of a cholesteric liquid crystal (with helical axes uniformly aligned along the cell normal) whose pitch is substantially longer than the equilibrium value.