Related papers: Flexoelectricity and pattern formation in nematic …
During the last half-decade, a new class of ferroic-fluid, ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals (NFLCs), creates a noise owing to its exceptional properties such as a colossal polarization, high electro-optic activity plus high fluidity.…
The phase-field-crystal model for liquid crystals is solved numerically in two spatial dimensions. This model is formulated with three position-dependent order parameters, namely the reduced translational density, the local nematic order…
Relaxor ferroelectrics exhibit exceptional dielectric and electromechanical properties, yet their microscopic origins remain elusive due to the interplay of hierarchical polar structures and chemical complexity. While models based on polar…
We show that development of polar order may spontaneously destroy the lamellar structure of a liquid crystal. This results in an unusual sequence of phases with the ferroelectric nematic phase appearing below a non-polar smectic phase. The…
Nonlinearities in constitutive equations of extended objects in shear flow lead to novel phenomena, {\it e.g.} "rheochaos" in solutions of wormlike micelles and "elastic turbulence" in polymer solutions. Since both phenomena involve…
We report on the alignment transition of a nematic liquid crystal from initially homeotropic to quasi-planar due to field-induced anchoring breaking. The initial homeotropic alignment is achieved by Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers. In this…
We numerically study two-dimensional active nematics with periodic activity patterning. For stripes of activity, we observe a transition from two-dimensional to one-dimensional active turbulence as the maximum active force and distance…
Domain structure of a fluid ferroelectric nematic is dramatically different from the domain structure of solid ferroelectrics since it is not restricted by rectilinear crystallographic axes and planar surface facets. We demonstrate that…
Disclination configurations of a nematic liquid crystal are studied within a self-consistent molecular field theory. The theory is based on a tensor order parameter, and can accommodate anisotropic elastic energies without the known…
Nematic elastomers are a particular class of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) that exhibit both liquid-crystalline order and rubber (entropic) elasticity. This combination makes them stimuli-responsive soft materials with a number of…
TmVO$_4$ exhibits ferroquadrupolar order below 2.15 K with a well-isolated non-Kramers ground state doublet, and is a model system to understand Ising nematic order. We present $^{51}$V nuclear magnetic resonance data as a function of field…
Ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals are currently being subject to a plethora of investigations since they are of great fundamental interest and could potentially foster promising applications. However, many basic aspects are still poorly…
Because of their spontaneous bulk polarization, ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals can be easily brought by surface coupling or confinement in a state in which the accumulation of bound charges becomes incompatible with polar order,…
Mean-field calculations for the two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a large magnetic field with a partially filled Landau level with index $N\geq 2$ consistently yield ``stripe-ordered'' charge-density wave ground-states, for much the…
Chromonic liquid crystals (CLCs) are lyotropic materials which are attracting growing interest for their adaptability to living systems. A considerable body of works has been devoted to exploring their properties and applications. In this…
We investigate experimentally the dynamic phase transition of a two-dimensional active nematic layer interfaced with a passive liquid crystal. Under a temperature ramp that leads to the transition of the passive liquid into a highly…
In this paper, a Freedericksz-like positional transition is found for a spherical micro-droplet suspended in a nematic liquid crystal cell in the presence of an external electric field. Based on the numerical calculation of elastic energy…
By analyzing elastic theory for nematic liquid crystals, we distinguish three regimes of elastic constants. In one regime, the Ericksen inequalities are satisfied, and the ground state of the director field is uniform. In a second regime,…
Motivated by recent experimental observations [U. Delabre et al, Langmuir 24, 3998, 2008] we reconsider an instability of ultrathin nematic films, spread on liquid substrates. Within a continuum elastic theory of liquid crystals, in the…
We use linear stability analysis to show that an isotropic phase of elongated particles with dipolar flow fields can develop nematic order as a result of their activity. We argue that ordering is favoured if the particles are flow-aligning…