Phase diagram of helicoids in Chiral Liquid Crystals.

Cholesteric Liquid Crystals (CLCs), in presence of an external uniform electric field and confined between two parallel planes with strong homeotropic anchoring conditions, are found to admit different types of helicoidal solutions with disclinations. Analytical and numerical analysis are performed in order to characterise their properties. In particular, we produce a phase transition diagram from the nematic state to the helicoids in terms of the chirality and the strength of the electric field.