Related papers: Liquid-Crystal Smectic with Six-Layer Periodic Str…
Extensive experimental studies have shown that numerous ordered phases can be formed via the self-assembly of T-shaped liquid crystalline molecules (TLCMs) composed of a rigid backbone, two flexible end chains and a flexible side chain.…
Polar mesospheric clouds provide clues to physicochemical processes in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. However, the heterogeneous nucleation and growth processes of water ice under polar mesospheric conditions are poorly understood,…
We explore the smectic liquid crystal order in a cell with a "dirty" substrate imposing random pinnings. Within harmonic elasticity we find a subtle three-dimensional surface disorder-driven transition into a pinned smectic-glass,…
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…
Liquid crystalline phases of matter permeate nature and technology, with examples ranging from cell membranes to liquid-crystal displays. Remarkably, electronic liquid crystal phases can exist in two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) at…
The sliding columnar phase is a new liquid-crystalline phase of matter composed of two-dimensional smectic lattices stacked one on top of the other. This phase is characterized by strong orientational but weak positional correlations…
We describe a new type of spatially periodic structure (lattice models): a polaritonic crystal (PolC) formed by a two-dimensional lattice of trapped two-level atoms interacting with quantised electromagnetic field in a cavity (or in a…
The dynamics of active smectic liquid crystals confined on a spherical surface is explored through an active phase field crystal model. Starting from an initially randomly perturbed isotropic phase, several types of topological defects are…
We show that phase separation in ordered polar active fluids belongs to a new universality class. This describes large collections of self-propelled entities (``flocks"), all spontaneously moving in the same direction, in which attractive…
Understanding nanoscale mechanisms responsible for the recently discovered ferroelectric nematics can be helped by direct visualization of self-assembly of strongly polar molecules. Here we report on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM)…
A flux liquid can condense into a smectic crystal in a pure layered superconductor with the magnetic field oriented nearly parallel to the layers. Similar order can arise in low temperature $^4$He films with a highly anisotropic periodic…
Recent experimental realization of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystalline phases stimulated material development and numerous experimental studies of these new phases, guided by their fundamental and applicative interest. In this…
The character of the ground state of an antiferromagnetic insulator is fundamentally altered upon addition of even a small amount of charge. The added charges agglomerate along domain walls at which the spin correlations, which may or may…
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…
We report on a construction for smectic blue phases, which have quasi-long range smectic translational order as well as long range cubic or hexagonal order. Our proposed structures fill space with a combination of minimal surface patches…
In liquid crystals, if flexoelectric couplings between polar order and director gradients are strong enough, the uniform nematic phase can become unstable to formation of a modulated polar phase. Previous theories have predicted two types…
Recent experimental discoveries of novel nematic types with polar order, including ferroelectric nematic and splay nematic have brought the resurgence of the interest in polar and modulated phases. One of the most important factors that is…
The structure of graphite-like BCx phases (x = 1, 1.5, 3, 4, 32) has been studied using conventional X-ray diffraction. The results have been obtained, which unambiguously point to turbostratic (one- dimensionally disordered) structure of…
Novel "smectic-P" behavior, in which self-propelled particles form rows and move on average along them, occurs generically within the orientationally-ordered phase of simple models that we simulate. Both apolar (head-tail symmetric) and…
We study the kinetics of the isotropic-smectic phase transition in a colloidal rod/polymer mixture by visualizing individual smectic layers. First, we show that the bulk isotropic-smectic phase transition is preceded by a surface freezing…