Nematohydrodynamic Effects on the Phase Separation of a Symmetric Mixture of an Isotropic Liquid and a Liquid Crystal

We numerically study phase-separation dynamics of symmetric mixtures of an isotropic liquid and a liquid crystal, incorporating nematohydrodynamics, for the first time. We find that the hydrodynamics not only accelerates the domain growth, but also leads to the breakdown of the morphological symmetry of the two phases, which occupy the same volume: The liquid-crystal-rich phase tends to form isolated domains. This symmetry breaking is revealed to be induced by the flow-alignment coupling due to the anisotropic shape of liquid crystal molecules (kinetic effects), and not by the elastic asymmetry (energetic effects).