Related papers: Fluctuating Interfaces in Liquid Crystals
Nematic liquid crystals at rough and fluctuating interfaces are analyzed within the Frank elastic theory and the Landau-de Gennes theory. We study specifically interfaces that locally favor planar anchoring. In the first part we reconsider…
Within the macroscopic Landau-de Gennes approach, we examine the Gaussian normal mode fluctuations of semi-infinite nematic liquid crystals in a regime of critical wetting. It is argued that surface free-energy potentials that strongly…
We present large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of a nematic-isotropic interface in a system of repulsive ellipsoidal molecules, focusing in particular on the capillary wave fluctuations of the interfacial position. The interface…
A theoretical study is presented of surface waves at a monomolecular surfactant film between an isotropic liquid and a nematic liquid crystal for the case when the surfactant film is in the isotropic two-dimensional fluid phase and induces…
We use numerical simulations to investigate the hydrodynamic behavior of the interface between nematic (N) and isotropic (I) phases of a confined active liquid crystal. At low activities, a stable interface with constant shape and velocity…
We present a study of the isotropic-nematic interface in a system of hard spherocylinders. First we compare results from Monte Carlo simulations and Onsager density functional theory for the interfacial profiles of the orientational order…
The Landau-de Gennes free energy is used to calculate the interaction between long cylindrical colloids and the nematic-isotropic (NI) interface. This interaction has two contributions: one is specific of liquid crystals and results from…
Free interfaces of liquid crystals tend to minimise both capillarity and anchoring forces. Here we study nematic films in planar and radial geometries with antagonistic anchoring boundary conditions and one deformable interface. Assuming a…
To describe the full spectrum of surface fluctuations of the interface between phase-separated colloid-polymer mixtures from low scattering vector q (classical capillary wave theory) to high q (bulk-like fluctuations), one must take account…
We study the dynamics of elastic interfaces-membranes-immersed in thermally excited fluids. The work contains three components: the development of a numerical method, a purely theoretical approach, and numerical simulation. In developing a…
The isotropic-to-nematic transition in liquid crystals is studied in d=3 spatial dimensions. A simulation method is proposed to measure the angle dependent interfacial tension g(theta), with theta the anchoring angle of the nematic phase at…
Instabilities of fluid-fluid interfaces are ubiquitous in passive soft matter. Adding activity to the interface or either fluid can dramatically change the stability of the interface. Using experiment and theory, we investigate the…
In this paper, we derive the sharp interface model of the nematic-isotropic phase transition from the Landau-de Gennes theory by using the matched asymptotic expansion method. The model includes the evolution equation of the velocity and…
We use a hybrid method of lattice Boltzmann and finite differences to simulate flat and curved interfaces between the nematic and isotropic phases of a liquid crystal described by the Landau-de Gennes theory. For the flat interface, we…
We report a dynamic light scattering study of the fluctuation modes in a thermotropic liquid crystalline mixture of monomer and dimer compounds that exhibits the twist-bend nematic ($\mathrm{N_{TB}}$) phase. The results reveal a spectrum of…
We present an introduction to modern theories of interfacial fluctuations and the associated interfacial parameters: surface tension and surface stiffness, as well as their interpretation within the capillary wave model. Transfer matrix…
In this work, we study the nematic-isotropic phase transition based on the dynamics of the Landau--De Gennes theory of liquid crystals. At the critical temperature, the Landau--De Gennes bulk potential favors the isotropic phase and nematic…
We study the interface between a solid trapped within a bath of liquid by a suitably shaped non-uniform external potential. Such a potential may be constructed using lasers, external electric or magnetic fields or a surface template. We…
We show that to account for the full spectrum of surface fluctuations from low scattering vector qd << 1 (classical capillary wave theory) to high qd > 1 (bulk-like fluctuations), one must take account of the interface's bending rigidity at…
Fluctuations of the interface between coexisting colloidal fluid phases have been measured with confocal microscopy. Due to a very low surface tension, the thermal motions of the interface are so slow, that a record can be made of the…