Related papers: Flexoelectric effect in biaxial nematics
A statistical theory of cholesteric liquid crystals composed of short rigid biaxial molecules is presented. It is derived in the thermodynamic limit at a small density and a small twist. The uniaxial (biaxial) cholesteric phase is regarded…
Using a version of density-functional theory which combines Onsager approximation and fundamental-measure theory for spatially nonuniform phases, we have studied the phase diagram of freely rotating hard rectangles and hard discorectangles.…
We show theoretically that thermomechanical effects in dye-doped nematic liquid crystals when illuminated by laser beams, can become important and lead to molecular reorientation at intensities substantially lower than that needed for…
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…
In culture migrating and interacting amoeboid cells can form nematic liquid crystal phases. A polar nematic liquid crystal is formed if the interaction has a polar symmetry. One type of white blood cells (granulocytes) form clusters where…
The recent discovery of the ferroelectric splay nematic phase has opened the door to experimental investigation of one of the most searched liquid crystal phases in decades, with high expectations for future applications. However, at this…
The direct magnetoelectric (ME) effect mediated by lattice strains induced in a ferroelectric film by a ferromagnetic substrate is evaluated using first-principles-based calculations. To that end, the strain sensitivity of ferroelectric…
Large bending of materials can occur at the nanoscale in response to an electric polarization, what is called the flexoelectric effect, but to date this has not been observed directly. We report the direct observation of large flexoelectric…
Metals exhibit a size-dependent hardening when subject to indentation. Mechanisms for this phenomenon have been intensely researched in recent times. Does such a size-effect also exist in the electromechanical behavior of…
The phase diagram of ice is complex and contains many phases, but the most common (frozen water at ambient pressure, also known as Ih ice) is a non-polar material despite individual water molecules being polar1,2. Consequently, ice is not…
Formation of electronic nematicity is a common thread of unconventional superconductors. In iron-based materials, the long-range nematic order is revealed by the orthorhombic lattice distortion, which importance is a highly controversial…
This article models experimentally observed three dimensional particle-like waves that develop in nematic liquid crystals, with negative dielectric and conductive anisotropy, when subject to an applied alternating electric field. The liquid…
We describe the occurence and properties of liquid crystal phases showing two dimensional splay and bend distortions which are stabilised by flexoelectric interactions. These phases are characterised by regions of locally double splayed…
The relationship between the applied elastic strain gradient and the induced electric polarization in the alpha-phase polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films under bending conditions has been investigated. Our experimental studies have shown…
Monte Carlo simulations are used to examine cooperative creation of polar state in fluids of two-state particles with nonzero dipole in the excited state. With lowering temperature such systems undergo a second order transition from…
An intermediate nematic phase is proposed for the interpretation of recent experimental results on phase biaxiality in bent-core nematics. The phase is macroscopically uniaxial but consists of microscopic biaxial, and possibly polar,…
The origin of nematicity in FeSe remains a critical outstanding question towards understanding unconventional superconductivity in proximity to nematic order. To understand what drives the nematicity, it is essential to determine which…
The bulk photovoltaic effect that is intimately associated with crystalline symmetry has been extensively studied in various nonmagnetic materials, especially ferroelectrics with a switchable electric polarization. In order to further…
Flexoelectricity refers to a linear coupling between the electric polarization and the strain gradient, such as bending or asymmetric compression. This effect is enhanced in nano-scale structures, where grain boundaries or dislocation cores…
The ferroelectric nematic phase (NF) is a recently discovered phase of matter in which the orientational order of the conventional nematic liquid crystal state is augmented with polar order. Atomistic simulations suggest that the polar NF…