Cascade “melting” of a linear disclination in chiral nematic droplets

A new structure of the elastic field of a chiral nematic liquid crystal in a cylindrical capillary with a singularity on the axis of the capillary in the form of a “melted” helical disclination has been obtained experimentally. It has been shown theoretically that the number of cylindrical surfaces, cascades at which a jump of the direction of the director orientation field $\bf n$ by $\pi$ occurs, can be arbitrary. The particular number of cascades depends on the radius $R$ of the cylinder and boundary conditions. An expression for the free energy of the elastic field has been obtained in the one-constant approximation of the continuum theory of liquid crystals.