Related papers: Flexoelectricity and pattern formation in nematic …
The dipole flexoelectric (FE) polarization in liquid crystals is derived in the thermodynamic limit at small distortions and small density. General microscopic expressions for the FE coefficients are obtained in the case of the uniaxial and…
Fluctuations in thermal many-particle systems reflect fundamental dynamical processes in both equilibrium and nonequilibrium (NEQ) physics. In NEQ systems \cite{ritort} fluctuations are important in a variety of contexts ranging from…
We investigate the stability of a circular electrodes-coated dielectric membrane under the combined action of an electric field and all-round in-plane tension. It is known that such a membrane is susceptible to the limiting point…
Liquid crystal elastomers are cross-linked elastomer networks with liquid crystal mesogens incorporated into the main or side chain. Polydomain liquid crystalline (nematic) elastomers exhibit unusual mechanical properties like soft…
An electron nematic is a translationally invariant state which spontaneously breaks the discrete rotational symmetry of a host crystal. In a clean square lattice, the electron nematic has two preferred orientations, while dopant disorder…
If a magnetic field normal to the surface of a magnetic fluid is increased beyond a critical value a spontaneous deformation of the surface arises (normal field instability). The instability is subcritical and leads to peaks of a…
Elastic constants of splay K_11, twist K_22, and bend K_33 of nematic liquid crystals are often assumed to be equal to each other in order to simplify the theoretical description of complex director fields. Here we present examples of how…
Motivated by the observation of highly unstable flowing states in suspensions of microtubules and kinesin, we analyze a model of mutually-propelled filaments suspended in a solvent. The system undergoes a mean-field isotropic-nematic…
Manipulating topological disclination networks that arise in a symmetry-breaking phase transfor- mation in widely varied systems including anisotropic materials can potentially lead to the design of novel materials like conductive…
It was shown that free energy density of the local flexomagnetoelectric effect is determined by the four phenomenological constants in case of the cubic (hexoctahedral) crystal. The well-known single-constant Lifshitz invariant term is…
Studies of sessile droplets and fluid bridges of a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal in externally applied electric fields are presented. It is found that above a threshold, the interface of the fluid with air undergoes a fingering…
The problem of finding the elastic strains arising due to the converse flexoelectric effect is solved for a case of uniformly polarized ball of isotropic dielectric material. The strains occurs due to the fact that, as shown in a previous…
We study the spontaneous out-of-plane bending of a planar untwisted ribbon composed of nematic polymer networks activated by a change in temperature. Our theory accounts for both stretching and bending energies, which compete to establish…
Active materials are capable of converting free energy into directional motion, giving rise to striking dynamical phenomena. Developing a general understanding of their structure in relation to the underlying non-equilibrium physics would…
The ground state of twist-bend nematic liquid crystals is a heliconical molecular arrangement in which the nematic director precesses uniformly about an axis, making a fixed angle with it. Both precession senses are allowed in the ground…
The ability to manipulate polar entities with multiple external fields opens exciting possibilities for emerging functionalities and novel applications in spin systems, photonics, metamaterials, and soft matter. Liquid crystals (LCs),…
We investigate the instability due to dynamical axion field near the topological phase transition of insulators. We first point out that the amplitude of dynamical axion field is bounded for magnetic insulators in general, which suppresses…
Liquid Crystalline Elastomers (LCEs) are active materials that are of interest due to their programmable response to various external stimuli such as light and heat. When exposed to these stimuli, the anisotropy in the response of the…
Flexoelectricity is a type of ubiquitous and prominent electromechanical coupling, pertaining to the response of electrical polarization to mechanical strain gradients while not restricted to the symmetry of materials. However, large…
The origin of recently observed spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in polar fluids is an unsolved problem, and poses fundamental questions as to how heliconical structures emerge in systems composed of achiral molecules. We report on the…