Related papers: Continuum theory of tilted chiral smectic phases
Stiff, elongated biomolecules such as filamentous viruses, DNA or cellulose nanocrystals are known to form liquid crystals often exhibiting a helical supramolecular organization. Little is known about the microscopic origin, size and…
We have carried out Monte Carlo simulations of zig-zag shaped molecules where the the molecules is composed of three rigidly linked hard spherocylinder arranged in a zigzag fashion. By varying zigzag angle we have mapped out the whole phase…
Chirality is a ubiquitous phenomenon in which a symmetry between left- and right-handed objects is broken, examples in nature ranging from subatomic particles and molecules to living organisms. In particle physics, the weak force is…
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…
We explore the phase structure of a chiral model of constituent quarks and gluons implementing scale symmetry breaking at finite temperature and chemical potential. In this model the chiral dynamics is intimately linked to the trace anomaly…
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…
We report on a construction for smectic blue phases, which have quasi-long range smectic translational order as well as three dimensional crystalline order. Our proposed structures fill space by adding layers on top of a minimal surface,…
We introduce novel higher-order topological phases of matter in chiral-symmetric systems (class AIII of the tenfold classification), most of which would be misidentified as trivial by current theories. These phases are protected by…
Telephone-cord patterns have been recently observed in smectic liquid crystal capillaries. In this paper we analyse the effects that may induce them. As long as the capillary keeps its linear shape, we show that a nonzero chiral cholesteric…
Chiroptical signals, optical responses sensitive to molecular handedness, are rapidly suppressed by multiple scattering, fundamentally limiting their use in turbid media. Here we show that coupling molecular chirality to the topological…
Due to the intertwining between electronic nematic and elastic degrees of freedom, lattice defects and structural inhomogeneities commonly found in crystals can have a significant impact on the electronic properties of nematic materials.…
Spontaneous symmetry breaking plays a pivotal role in physics ranging from the emergence of elementary particles to the phase transitions of matter. The spontaneous breaking of continuous time translation symmetry leads to a novel state of…
We report Monte-Carlo simulation studies of some systems consisting of polar rod-like molecules interacting via a pair potential that exhibit liquid crystal phases, attributed with tilt angles of large magnitude. For theoretical…
Recent liquid-crystalline (LC) research is focused on structurally new molecular systems distinct from simple nematic or smectic phases. Sophisticated molecular shape may reveal structural complexity, combining helicity and polarity.…
We consider the energy and helicity densities of circularly polarised light within a lossless chiral medium, characterised by the chirality parameter $\beta$. A form for the helicity density is introduced, valid to first order in $\beta$,…
We explore a possible phase where chiral $SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_R$ symmetry is spontaneously broken while its center $Z_2$ symmetry remains unbroken and its consequence on thermal quantities. In this phase, chiral symmetry breaking is driven…
We theoretically investigate the spin Hall conductivity (SHC) in topological Dirac semimetals (TDSMs) whose Dirac points are protected by rotational symmetry. On the basis of a general phase diagram of the system with time-reversal,…
Monodisperse suspensions of rodlike chiral $fd$ viruses are condensed into a rod-length thick colloidal monolayers of aligned rods by depletion forces. Twist deformations of the molecules are expelled to the monolayer edge as in a chiral…
We argue the coherent part of the spectral weight always contribute symmetrically to the STM spectrum at sufficiently low energy and the tunneling asymmetry is a manifestation of the incoherent part of the electron spectrum. By subtracting…
We study the effects of chirality at the segment scale on the thermodynamics of block copolymer melts using self consistent field theory. In linear diblock melts where segments of one block prefer a twisted, or cholesteric, texture, we show…