Related papers: Structure and dynamics of interfaces between two c…
The phase-ordering kinetics of a bulk uniaxial nematic liquid crystal is addressed using techniques that have been successfully applied to describe ordering in the O(n) model. The method involves constructing an appropriate mapping between…
We introduce a non-isothermal phase-field crystal model including heat flux and thermal expansion of the crystal lattice. The thermal compatibility condition, as well as a positive entropy-production property, is derived analytically and…
We demonstrate that a first order isotropic-to-nematic phase transition in liquid crystals can be succesfully modeled within the generalized Landau-de Gennes theory by selecting an appropriate combination of elastic constants. The numerical…
Antiferroelectric liquid crystals can be considered as a promising alternative to nematic mixtures in the area of microdisplays. Switching behaviour of the molecules has been modelled as two adjacent smectic layers. However, some studies…
A Self Consistent Field Theory description of equilibrium, but non uniform, configurations adopted by semi flexible liquid crystal molecules is presented. Two cases are considered, isotropic-nematic phase boundaries, and topological defects…
We examine, using molecular dynamics simulation, the structure and thermodynamics of the (100) and (111) disordered face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal/melt interfaces for a binary hard-sphere system. This study is an extension of our…
The properties of liquid crystals can be modelled using an order parameter which describes the variability of the local orientation of rod-like molecules. Defects in the director field can arise due to external factors such as applied…
Interfaces between demixed fluid phases of binary mixtures of hard platelets are investigated using density-functional theory. The corresponding excess free energy functional is calculated within a fundamental measure theory adapted to the…
Liquid crystals in two dimensions do not support long-ranged nematic order, but a quasi-nematic phase where the orientational correlations decay algebraically is possible. The transition from the isotropic to the quasi-nematic phase can be…
The phase-field-crystal (PFC) modeling paradigm is rapidly emerging as the model of choice when investigating materials phenomena with atomistic scale effects over diffusive time scales. Recent variants of the PFC model, so-called…
Computer simulations of simple model systems for liquid crystals are briefly reviewed, with special emphasis on systems of ellipsoids. First, we give an overview over some of the most commonly studied systems (ellipsoids, Gay-Berne…
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…
Spontaneous onset of a low temperature topologically ordered phase in a 2-dimensional (2D) lattice model of uniaxial liquid crystal (LC) was debated extensively pointing to a suspected underlying mechanism affecting the RG flow near the…
We investigate the possibility to control the symmetry of ordered states in phase-field crystal models by tuning nonlinear resonances. In two dimensions, we find that a state of square symmetry as well as coexistence between squares and…
We find analytical solutions to the Cahn-Hilliard equation for the dynamics of an interface in a system with a conserved order parameter (Model B). We show that, although steady-state solutions of Model B are unphysical in the far-field,…
Directional solidification of water-based solutions has emerged as a versatile technique for templating hierarchical porous materials. However, the underlying mechanisms of pattern formation remain incompletely understood. In this work, we…
We provide experimental evidence that photoalignment at the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) - polymer interface can not be simply considered as a two-dimensional process. Moreover, our experiments clearly indicate that the photoaligning…
Certain models with purely repulsive pair interactions can form cluster crystals with multiply-occupied lattice sites. Simulating these models' equilibrium properties is, however, quite challenging. Here, we develop an expanded…
We demonstrate how to construct dynamic phase diagrams for complex fluids that undergo transitions under flow, in which the conserved composition variable and the broken-symmetry order parameter (nematic, smectic, crystalline, etc.) are…
The topological invariants of a periodic system can be used to define the topological phase of each band and determine the existence of topological interface states within a certain bandgap. Here, we propose a scheme based on the full phase…