Related papers: Smectic-C tilt under shear in Smectic-A elastomers
Structural studies by synchrotron x-ray diffraction on two main-chain smectic-C elastomers reveal the presence of two different relaxation mechanisms in these systems at low and high strains. At low strains, the smectic layers are…
The surface phase behavior of binary mixtures of colloidal hard rods in contact with a solid substrate (hard wall) is studied, with special emphasis on the region of the phase diagram that includes the smectic A phase. The colloidal rods…
The known ground state of ultrathin smectic films confined to the surface of a sphere is described by four +1/2 defects assembled on a great circle and a director which follows geodesic lines. Using a simple perturbative approach we show…
Composed of microscopic layers that stack along one direction while maintaining fluid-like positional disorder within layers, smectics are excellent systems for exploring topology, defects and geometric memory in complex confining…
We present a theory for the low-frequency, long-wavelength dynamics of soft smectic-C elastomers with locked-in smectic layers. Our theory, which goes beyond pure hydrodynamics, predicts a dynamic soft elasticity of these elastomers and…
We present a theory of the elasticity and fluctuations of the Smectic A and C phases in uniaxial, anisotropic disordered environments, e.g., stretched aerogel. We find that, bizarrely, the low-temperature, lower-symmetry Smectic $C$ phase…
Mechanically quenching a thin film of smectic-C liquid crystal results in the formation of a dense array of thousands of topological defects in the director field. The subsequent rapid coarsening of the film texture by the mutual…
Chiral rodlike colloids exposed to strong depletion attraction may self-assemble into chiral membranes whose twisted director field differs from that of a 3D bulk chiral nematic. We formulate a simple microscopic variational theory to…
We analyse the elastic energy of an intercalated smectic where orientationally ordered polymers with an average orientation varying from layer to layer are intercalated between smectic planes. The lowest order terms in the coupling between…
A dynamic light scattering study of director-layer fluctuations in the antiferroelectric smectic-ZA phase of the ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal DIO is reported. The dynamics are consistent with the distinctive feature of the ZA phase…
The phase behavior of the system of parallel rigid triblock copolymers is examined using the second-virial density functional theory. The triblock particle consists of two identical infinitely thin hard rods of finite lengths on the…
Instabilities in thin elastic sheets, such as wrinkles, are of broad interest both from a fundamental viewpoint and also because of their potential for engineering applications. Nematic liquid crystal elastomers offer a new form of control…
Liquid crystals can self-organize into a layered smectic phase. While the smectic layers are typically straight forming a lamellar pattern in bulk, external confinement may drastically distort the layers due to the boundary conditions…
We present a large-scale molecular dynamics study of nematic-paranematic interfaces under shear. We use a model of soft repulsive ellipsoidal particles with well-known equilibrium properties, and consider interfaces which are oriented…
We present theoretical study of a single disclination motion in a thin free standing hexatic (or smectic-C) film, driven by a large-scale inhomogeneity in the bond (or director) angle. Back-flow effects and own dynamics of the bond angle…
Chiral twisting of the molecular orientation within the layer of a smectic-A liquid crystal has been investigated using circular dichroism spectroscopy. The results indicate that a rotation of the layers away from the alignment direction is…
We study anomalous elasticity in the tubule phases of nematic and smectic elastomer membranes, which are flat in one direction and crumpled in another. These phases share the same macroscopic symmetry properties including…
The rheological behavior of polymer melts is strongly influenced by parameters such as chain length, chain stiffness, and architecture. In particular, shear thinning, characterized by a power-law decrease in shear viscosity with increasing…
Using optical microscopy, phase shifting interferometry and atomic force microscopy, we demonstrate the existence of undulated structures in the meniscus of ferroelectric smectic-C* films. The meniscus is characterized by a periodic…
A nonlinear viscoelastic theory of nematodynamic type is developed for nematic liquid crystalline (LC) semi-flexible polymers. A measure of transient elastic strain due to the change in length of macromolecular strands under stress, and the…