Orientational relaxation in the Maier–Saupe model of nematic liquid crystals

The nonlinear self-consistent Smoluchowski equation for the distribution of orientations in a colloidal suspension of elongated molecules is solved for situations with uniaxial symmetry in the framework of the Maier–Saupe model. The axis of symmetry corresponds to the direction of an applied magnetic or electric field. The field is suddenly switched on or off, and the subsequent evolution of distribution and order parameter is studied in a rapidly convergent numerical scheme. The non-equilibrium free energy and entropy are calculated. An exact expression is derived for the short-time friction coefficient. It is shown that a macroscopic relaxation equation describes the time-evolution of the order parameter reasonably well.