Splay and bend elasticity in two-dimensional nematic liquid crystals.
We present a molecular dynamics simulation study of the Frank orientational elastic constants, namely, splay (K1) and bend (K3), in a two-dimensional (2D) thermotropic nematic liquid crystal composed of Gay-Berne ellipses with interaction parameters (3, 5, 2, 1) and aspect ratio 3 : 1. The elastic constants are extract...