Related papers: Diffraction of light by topological defects in liq…
The influence of controlable parameters like temperature and wavelength on the trajectories of light in a nematic liquid crystal with topological defects is studied through a geometric model. The model incorporates phenomenological details…
Light traveling through a liquid crystal with disclinations perceives a geometrical background which causes lensing effects similar to the ones predicted for cosmic objects like global monopoles and cosmic strings. In this article we…
We use molecular dynamics to study the ordering of a nematic liquid crystal around a spherical particle or droplet. Homeotropic boundary conditions and strong anchoring create a hedgehog director configuration on the particle surface and in…
Defects in liquid crystals are of great practical importance and theoretical interest. Despite tremendous efforts, predicting the location and transition of defects under various topological constraint and external field remains to be a…
Optical methods are most convenient to analyze spatially periodic patterns with wavevector $\bm q$ in a thin layer of a nematic liquid crystal. In the standard experimental setup a beam of parallel light with a 'short' wavelength $\lambda…
Liquid crystals (LCs) play a fundamental and significant role in modern technology. Recently, they have also been used in active switching, adaptive optics, and next-generation displays for augmented and virtual reality. This is due to the…
This paper describes the application of a laser diffraction technique to the study of electroconvection in nematic liquid crystal cells. It allows a real-time quantitative access to pattern wave lengths and amplitudes. The diffraction…
Linear defects such as dislocations and disclinations in ordered materials attract foreign particles since they replace strong elastic distortions at the defect cores. In this work, we explore the behavior of isotropic droplets nucleating…
We consider the propagation of light in a anisotropic medium with a topological line defect in the realm of geometrical optics. It is shown that the effective geometry perceived by light propagating in such medium is that of a spacial…
In nematic liquid crystals light is strongly scattered from director fluctuations. We are interested in the limit where the incoming light wave is scattered many times. Then, the light transport can be described by a diffusion equation for…
Deviations from the perfect atomic arrangements in crystals play an important role in affecting their properties. Similarly, diffusion of such deviations is behind many microstructural changes in solids. However, observation of point defect…
Interfering liquid surface waves are generated by electrically driven vertical oscillations of two or more equispaced pins immersed in a liquid (water). The corresponding intensity distribution, resulting from diffraction of monochromatic…
Topological defects are an essential part of the structure and dynamics of all liquid crystals, and they are particularly important in experiments and simulations on active liquid crystals. In a recent paper, Vromans and Giomi [Soft Matter,…
The theory of nonlinear diffraction of intensive light beams propagating through photorefractive media is developed. Diffraction occurs on a reflecting wire embedded in the nonlinear medium at relatively small angle with respect to the…
We consider light propagation through a twisted nematic liquid crystal. At first, an expression for light transmission is obtained using a rather intuitive approach. Secondly, an accurate solution for light transmission based on Maxwell's…
The homotopy theory of topological defects is a powerful tool for organizing and unifying many ideas across a broad range of physical systems. Recently, experimental progress has been made in controlling and measuring colloidal inclusions…
At present, the theory of light diffraction only has the simple wave-optical approach. In this paper, we study light diffraction with the approach of relativistic quantum theory. We find that the slit length, slit width, slit thickness and…
How topological defects affect the dynamics of particles hopping between lattice sites of a distorted, two-dimensional crystal is addressed. Perturbation theory and numerical simulations show that weak, short-ranged topological disorder…
We study the topology of smectic defects in two and three dimensions. We give a topological classification of smectic point defects and disclination lines in three dimensions. In addition we describe the combination rules for smectic point…
Topological defects are a universal concept across many disciplines, such as crystallography, liquid-crystalline physics, low-temperature physics, cosmology, and even biology. In nematic liquid crystals, topological defects called…