Behavior of disclination lines induced by a nonuniform electric field in a nematic liquid crystal cell

The disclination lines appearing in the liquid crystal cell with a slit-patterned electrode structure are investigated in detail. Behaviors of disclination lines depend directly upon the motion of the reverse tilted molecular orientation domain, and there seem to be multi-stable molecular orientation states related to the disclination lines. Moreover, it is interesting that the disclination line has a zig-zag structure with a well-regulated folding period under appropriate conditions. These phenomena are discussed in terms of the molecular orientation effects in the nonuniform electric field.