Cholesteric Tactoids

Chirality is a common propery of all kinds of materials from liquid crystals to polymers; of particular interest is how the chirality of a mesogenic unit imprints itself upon the higher order structures. For example, chiral polymers may form gyroid phases. Here we examine the problem of a determining the shape of droplet of chiral fluid: a cholesteric liquid crystal. We determine equilibrium structures for this system with a finite element approach as a function of the degree of chirality, measured by a cholesteric pitch. In doing so, we examine whether chirality can be transferred from a droplet to its shape.