Sculpting liquid crystal skyrmions with external flows
Abstract
We investigate, using experiments and numerical simulations, the distortions and the alignment of skyrmions in the liquid crystal under external flows for a range of average flow velocities. The simulations are based on the Landau-de Gennes tensor theory both for isolated as well as for systems with many skyrmions. We found striking flow-driven elongation of an isolated skyrmion and flow alignment of skyrmions in the many-skyrmion system, both of which are also observed in the experiments. In the simulations, particular attention was given to the dissipation rate and to the various dissipation channels for a single skyrmion under external flow. This analysis provides insight on the observed scaling regime of the elongation of isolated flowing skyrmions and revealed a surprising plastic response at very short times, which may be relevant in applications based on the alignment of soft structures such as liquid crystal skyrmions.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2303.12045,
title = {Sculpting liquid crystal skyrmions with external flows},
author = {Rodrigo C. V. Coelho and Hanqing Zhao and Mykola Tasinkevych and Ivan I. Smalyukh and Margarida M. Telo da Gama},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.12045},
year = {2024}
}