Related papers: Optically induced orientational transitions in nem…
Extensive studies have investigated the transition mechanism of boundary layers initiated by a single primary instability. In a real-world scenario, however, multiple primary instabilities of different physical nature would coexist and…
Using ultrashort laser pulses, it has become possible to probe the dynamics of long-range order in solids on microscopic timescales. In the conventional description of symmetry-broken phases within time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory, the…
We demonstrate that one-dimensional photonic crystals with pure nematic liquid-crystal defects can operate as all-optical switching devices based on optical orientational nonlinearities of liquid crystals. We show that such a periodic…
Inspired by the observations of a remarkably stable biaxial nematic phase [E.v.d. Pol et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 258301 (2009)], we investigate the effect of size polydispersity on the phase behavior of a suspension of boardlike…
Surface alignment of a recently discovered ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal (NF) is usually achieved by buffed polymer films, which produce a unidirectional polar alignment of the spontaneous electric polarization. We demonstrate that…
Elliptic shear applied to a homeotropically oriented nematic above the electric bend Freedericks transition (FT) generates slow precession of the director. The character of the accompanying nonlinear waves changes from diffusive phase waves…
Ferroelectric nematic phases are a new class of polar fluids in which spontaneous polarization is directly coupled to the orientational order, providing unique opportunities for creating self-organized materils with spatially modulated…
In a planar liquid crystal sample sandwiched between a photosensitive and a reference plate instabilities occurred, when the cell was illuminated from the reference side. The instabilities were induced both by polarized white light source…
We develop an effective two-dimensional coarse-grained description for the coupled system of a planar fluid membrane anchored to a thin layer of polar ordered active fluid below. The macroscopic orientation of the active fluid layer is…
Photoinduced dynamics of charge density and lattice displacements is calculated by solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for a one-dimensional extended Peierls-Hubbard model with alternating potentials for the mixed-stack…
We investigate the phase diagram of a relativistic, parametrically driven O($N$)-symmetric theory coupled to a Markovian thermal bath. Our analysis reveals a rich variety of phases, including both uniform and spatially modulated…
New phenomenon of temporal oscillations of nonlinear Faraday rotation in a driven four-level system is predicted. We show that in this system with one upper level, under the conditions of electromagnetically induced transparency created by…
The field of active nematics has traditionally employed descriptions based on dipolar activity, with interactions that align along a single axis. However, it has been theoretically predicted that interactions with a substrate, prevalent in…
The symmetry breaking Freedericksz transitions, when a uniformly aligned nematic state is replaced by a homogeneously or periodically distorted state, have been extensively studied before. Here we analyse the influence of the saddle-splay…
A transparent material exhibits ultra-fast optical nonlinearity and is subject to optical pressure if irradiated by a laser beam. However, the effect of nonlinearity on optical pressure is often overlooked, even if a nonlinear optical…
The critical field of the Freedericksz transition and switching dynamics are investigated for polymer stabilized nematic liquid crystals as a function of polymer concentration. A simple phenomenological model is proposed to describe the…
The impact of the optical field polarization on the spectrum of magnetically-induced transitions, a class of transitions forbidden at zero magnetic field, is studied with a weak-probe sub-Doppler technique. The high spectral resolution of…
We present the first experimental evidence for the existence of strongly localized photonic modes due to random two dimensional fluctuations in the dielectric constant. In one direction, the modes are trapped by ordered Bragg reflecting…
We investigate the orientational behaviour of a homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystal subjected to an oscillatory plane Poiseuille flow produced by an alternating pressure gradient. For small pressure amplitudes the director…
Fr\'eedericksz transitions in nematic liquid crystals are re-examined with a focus on differences between systems with magnetic fields and those with electric fields. A magnetic field can be treated as uniform in a liquid-crystal medium;…