Related papers: Smectic order, pinning, and phase transition in a …
The phase behavior of a model suspension of colloidal polydisperse platelets is studied using density-functional theory. Platelets are modelled as parallel rectangular prisms of square section $l$ and height $h$, with length and height…
We provide evidence that plastic depinning falls into the same class of phenomena as the random organization which was recently studied in periodically driven particle systems [L. Corte et al., Nature Phys. 4, 420 (2008)]. In the plastic…
Using Monte Carlo simulation methods, we explore the role of molecular shape in the phase behavior of liquid crystals and the electroclinic effect. We study a "bent-rod" mesogen shaped like the letter Z, composed of seven soft spheres…
The lattice gas model of condensation in a heterogeneous pore system, represented by a random graph of cells, is studied using an exact analytical solution. A binary mixture of pore cells with different coordination numbers is shown to…
The breakdown of crystalline order in a disordered background connects to some of the most challenging problems in condensed matter physics. For a superconducting vortex lattice, the equilibrium state in the presence of impurities is…
We study the effect in geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets of weak, random variations in the strength of exchange interactions. Without disorder the simplest classical models for these systems have macroscopically degenerate ground…
We investigate, using Monte Carlo simulations, the phase diagram of a system of hard rectangles of size $m\times mk$ on a square lattice when the aspect ratio $k$ is a non-integer. The existence of a disordered isotropic phase, a nematic…
The simultaneous effect of both disorder and crystal-lattice pinning on the equilibrium behavior of oriented elastic objects is studied using scaling arguments and a functional renormalization group technique. Our analysis applies to…
We present a simplified molecular model of mesogenic dimers consisting of two identical uniaxial mesogenic cores separated by a fixed-length spacer and allowed to assume only two, statistically equivalent, conformations which are non-planar…
A certain two-dimensional lattice model with nearest and next-nearest neighbor interactions is known to have a limit-periodic ground state. We show that during a slow quench from the high temperature, disordered phase, the ground state…
The metastable states of a glass are counted by adding a weak pinning field which explicitly breaks the ergodicity. Their entropy, that is the logarithm of their number, is extensive in a range of temperatures $T_G < T < T_C$ only, where…
Previous theoretical studies of calamitic (i.e., rod-like) ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) based on an effective one-species model led to indications of a novel smectic-A phase with a layer spacing being much larger than the length of the…
The phase diagram of a system of monodispersed hard rectangles of size $m\times m k$ on a square lattice is numerically determined for $m=2,3$ and aspect ratio $k= 1,2,\ldots, 7$. We show the existence of a disordered phase, a nematic phase…
Smectic blue phases (BPSm) are new mesophases of thermotropic liquid crystals, which exhibit a double geometrical frustration: the extension of chirality in three spatial dimensions like the classical blue phases, and helical twist…
Using particle-resolved molecular-dynamics simulations, we compute the phase diagram for soft repulsive spherocylinders confined on the surface of a sphere. While crystal (K), smectic (Sm), and isotropic (I) phases exhibit a stability…
The degree of randomness, or partial order, present in two-dimensional supramolecular arrays of isophthalate tetracarboxylic acids is shown to vary due to subtle chemical changes such as the choice of solvent or small differences in…
Freezing of charged colloids on square or triangular two-dimensional periodic substrates has been recently shown to realize a rich variety of orientational orders. We propose a theoretical framework to analyze the corresponding structures.…
Partially phase-separated liquid-crystal/polymer dispersions display highly fibrillar domain morphologies that are dramatically different from the typical structures found in isotropic mixtures. To explain this, we numerically explore the…
We present the results of a computer simulation study of the melting scenario of two-dimensional soft-disk systems with potential $U(r)=\varepsilon(\sigma/r)^n$, $n=12$ and $n=1024$, both in the presence of random pinning and without it.…
If a surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal cell is cooled from the smectic-A to the smectic-C phase, its layers thin causing V-shaped (chevron like) defects to form. These create an energy barrier that can prevent switching…