Related papers: Instability patterns in ultrathin nematic films: c…
The stability of nonvolatile thin liquid films and of sessile droplets is strongly affected by finite size effects. We analyze their stability within the framework of density functional theory using the sharp kink approximation, i.e., on…
We model within the framework of finite elasticity two inherent instabilities observed in liquid crystal elastomers under uniaxial tension. First is necking which occurs when a material sample suddenly elongates more in a small region where…
We study the bulk and shear elastic properties of barely-compressed, "athermal" emulsions and find that the rigidity of the jammed solid fails at remarkably large critical osmotic pressures. The minuscule yield strain and similarly small…
The confining effect of a spherical substrate inducing anchoring (normal to the surface) of rod-like liquid crystal molecules contained in a thin film spread over it has been investigated with regard to possible changes in the nature of the…
We investigate the flow of a nano-scale incompressible ridge of low-volatility liquid along a "chemical channel": a long, straight, and completely wetting stripe embedded in a planar substrate, and sandwiched between two extended less…
An one-dimensional model of magnetic flux penetration into thin strip-like superconductive film is subject to numerical analysis which combines explicit account for specific oblate geometry of magnetic field lines around the film and a…
We predict an inhomogeneous phase of superfluid 3He films in which translational symmetry is spontaneously broken in the plane of the film. This phase is energetically favored over a range of film thicknesses, $D_{c_2}(T)<D<D_{c_1}(T)$,…
Thin elastic sheets and membranes are known to wrinkle when they are stretched -- the associated physics is highly non-linear. The mechanics of thin films that exhibit unusual behavior upon stretching, when they possess auxetic structure,…
We study the homogeneous and the spatially periodic instabilities in a nematic liquid crystal layer subjected to steady plane {\em Couette} or {\em Poiseuille} flow. The initial director orientation is perpendicular to the flow plane. Weak…
A hydrostatically stressed soft elastic film circumvents the imposed constraint by undergoing a morphological instability, the wavelength of which is dictated by the minimization of the surface and the elastic strain energies of the film.…
The nonlinear elastic properties of nematic liquid crystals have acquired new interest with the recent experimental observation of bulk modulated nematic phases which are composed by achiral molecules. We extend the Oseen-Zocher-Frank's…
We analyse the homogeneous instabilities in a nematic liquid crystal subjected to plane steady Couette or Poiseuille flow in the case when the director is pre-aligned perpendicular to the flow plane taking into account weak anchoring at the…
Monte Carlo simulation, experiment and continuum theory are used to examine the anchoring exhibited by a nematic liquid crystal at a patterned substrate comprising a periodic array of rectangles that, respectively, promote vertical and…
We explore flow of a completely wetting fluid in a funnel, with particular focus on contact line instabilities at the fluid front. While the flow in a funnel may be related to a number of other flow configurations as limiting cases,…
We consider a continuum model of active viscoelastic matter, whereby an active nematic liquid-crystal is coupled to a minimal model of polymer dynamics with a viscoelastic relaxation time $\tau_C$. To explore the resulting interplay between…
A two-dimensional or quasi-two-dimensional nematic liquid crystal refers to a surface confined system. When such a system is further confined by external line boundaries or excluded from internal line boundaries, the nematic directors form…
Phenomenon of foam and emulsion jamming at low shear rates is explained by considering the dynamics of thinning in the transient film, formed between the neighboring bubbles and drops. After gradually thinning down to a critical thickness,…
We consider a holographic description of a system of strongly-coupled fermions in 2+1 dimensions based on a D7-brane probe in the background of D3-branes. The black hole embedding represents a Fermi-like liquid. We study the excitations of…
The formation and destabilisation of viscoelastic filaments are of importance in many industrial and biological processes. Filament instabilities have been observed for viscoelastic fluids but recently also for soft elastic solids. In this…
We unravel the linear stability properties of an otherwise stagnant ultrathin non-wetting liquid film of thickness $h_o$ coating a spherical substrate of radius $R$. The configuration is known to be unstable due to the competition of the…