Related papers: Meta-stable nematic pre-ordering in smectic liquid…
Liquid crystal networks combine the orientational order of liquid crystals with the elastic properties of polymer networks, leading to a vast application potential in the field of responsive coatings, e.g., for haptic feedback,…
We use super-paramagnetic spherical particles which are arranged in a two-dimensional monolayer at a water/air interface to investigate the crystal to liquid phase transition. According to the KTHNY theory a crystal melts in thermal…
The optical properties of liquid crystals serve as the basis for display, diagnostic, and sensing technologies. Such properties are generally controlled by relying on electric fields. In this work, we investigate the effects of microfluidic…
Simulations of nematic-isotropic transition of liquid crystals in two dimensions are performed using an O(2) vector model characterised by non linear nearest neighbour spin interaction governed by the fourth Legendre polynomial $P\_4$. The…
Starting from an ideal crystalline state, we numerically study a nonequilibrium dynamical order- disorder transition promoted by the application of a periodic shearing protocol at low temperatures in model systems in two and three…
Liquid crystal droplets are of great interest from physics and applications. Rigorous mathematical analysis is challenging as the problem involves harmonic maps (and in general the Oseen-Frank model), free interfaces and topological defects…
We report the nematic and smectic ordering in a new aqueous suspension of monolayer $\alpha$-Zirconium phosphate platelets possessing a high polydispersity in diameter but uniform thickness. We observe an isotropic--nematic transition as…
We derive the the long-wavelength elastic theory for the quantum Hall smectic state starting from the Hartree-Fock approximation. Dislocations in this state lead to an effective nematic model for $T>0$, which undergoes a disclination…
Nanostructured ferroelectrics display exotic multidomain configurations resulting from the electrostatic and elastic boundary conditions they are subject to. While the ferroelectric domains appear frozen in experimental images, atomistic…
We study stability and distortions of liquid crystal nematic order in a cell with a random heterogeneous substrate. Modeling this system as a bulk xy model with quenched disorder confined to a surface, we find that nematic order is…
Driven systems offer the potential to realize a wide range of non-equilibrium phenomena that are inaccessible in static systems, such as the discrete time crystals. Time rondeau crystals with a partial temporal order have been proposed as a…
Using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations, we investigate the isotropic-nematic phase transition for hard rods of size Lx1x1 on a 3D cubic lattice. We observe such a transition for L >= 6. For L = 6, the nematic state has a…
The understanding of self-organization in the twist-bend nematic $(N_\text{TB})$ phase, identified in 2011 in liquid crystal dimers, is at the forefront of soft matter research worldwide. This new nematic phase develops structural chirality…
Metastable phases may be spontaneously formed from other metastable phases through nucleation. Here we demonstrate the spontaneous formation of a metastable phase from an unstable equilibrium by spinodal decomposition, which leads to a…
We study a stochastic version of the classical Becker-D\"oring model, a well-known kinetic model for cluster formation that predicts the existence of a long-lived metastable state before a thermodynamically unfavorable nucleation occurs,…
Computer simulations are presented of the isotropic-to-nematic transition in a liquid crystal confined between two parallel plates a distance H apart. The plates are neutral and do not impose any anchoring on the particles. Depending on the…
Fibers of bent-core liquid crystals present an internal structure of a rolled smectic layer and can be used as optical waveguides. We used a field-theoretical Monte Carlo simulation to analyze the internal configuration of such fibers as a…
We report filling-fraction dependent dielectric spectroscopy measurements on the relaxation dynamics of the rod-like nematogen 7CB condensed in 13 nm silica nanochannels. In the film-condensed regime, a slow interface relaxation dominates…
We study the hydrodynamics of compressible active nematic liquid crystals in a three-dimensional and bounded domain, with a nonlinear viscosity tensor and nonhomogeneous boundary data, in a Landau-de Gennes framework. We prove the existence…
The study of liquid crystals at equilibrium has led to fundamental insights into the nature of ordered materials, as well as to practical applications such as display technologies. Active nematics are a fundamentally different class of…