Structural Transitions in Fibers of Bent-Core Liquid Crystals from   Field-Theory Monte Carlo Simulations
  Fibers of bent-core liquid crystals present an internal structure of a rolled smectic layer and can be used as optical waveguides. We used a field-theoretical Monte Carlo simulation to analyze the internal configuration of such fibers as a function of the radial coordinate and to study their equilibrium sates. In contrast to previous studies, we analyzed the fully nonlinear model proposed in [Bailey et al., Phys. Rev. E, 2007, 75, 031701] and revised in [P\'erez-Ortiz et al., Phys. Rev. E, 2011, 84, 011701]. We found that, due to the non-differentiable character of such model, the Euler-Lagrange equations are not able to find all equilibrium states. Our Monte Carlo procedure identified both differentiable and non-differentiable equilibria and first order transitions between them. In all cases, the equilibrium states show inhomogenous configurations that display a boundary layer. This methodology can by applied to other models of liquid crystals that have more degrees of freedom, including those with non-differentiable minima. The equilibrium structures found can be used as inputs to model the transmission of light along the liquid crystal fibers. 
N. Atzin, O. Guzm\'an, J. J. de Pablo
cond-mat.soft