Related papers: Shape and Chirality Transitions in Off-Axis Twist …
Liquid crystal elastomers represent a novel class of programmable shape-transforming materials whose shape change trajectory is encoded in the material's nematic director field. Using three-dimensional nonlinear finite element…
Using the theory of $\Gamma$-convergence, we derive from three-dimensional elasticity new one-dimensional models for non-Euclidean elastic ribbons, i.e. ribbons exhibiting spontaneous curvature and twist. We apply the models to…
We study the shape and shape fluctuations of positively curved ribbons, with a flat reference metric and a sphere-like reference curvature. Such incompatible geometry is likely to occur in many self assembled materials and other…
In liquid crystal elastomers, the orientational order of liquid crystals is coupled with elastic distortions of crosslinked polymer networks. Previous theoretical research has described these materials through two different approaches: a…
Liquid crystal elastomers are cross-linked polymer networks covalently bonded with liquid crystal mesogens. In the nematic phase, due to strong coupling between mechanical strain and orientational order, these materials display…
In a nematic gel, the appearance of nematic order is accompanied by a spontaneous elongation of the gel parallel to the nematic director. If such a gel is made chiral, it has a tendency to form a cholesteric helical texture, in which local…
Helical ribbons arise in many biological and engineered systems, often driven by anisotropic surface stress, residual strain, and geometric or elastic mismatch between layers of a laminated composite. A full mathematical analysis is…
Efforts to modulate the electronic properties of atomically thin crystalline nanoribbons requires precise control over their morphology. Here, we perform atomistic simulations on freestanding graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) to first identify…
We consider planar liquid crystal elastomers: two dimensional objects made of anisotropic responsive materials, that upon activation remain flat however change their planar shape. We derive a closed form, analytical solution based on the…
Chiral nematic liquid crystals exhibit both a helical planar ground state with uniform twist and a metastable defect-rich focal conic texture, and can be switched between the two microstructures via application of transient voltage pulses.…
Coupling between axial and torsional degrees of freedom often modifies the conformation and expression of natural and synthetic filamentous aggregates. Recent studies on chiral single-walled carbon nanotubes and B-DNA reveal a reversal in…
We study elastic ribbons subject to large, tensile pre-stress confined to a central region within the cross-section. These ribbons can buckle spontaneously to form helical shapes, featuring regions of alternating chirality (phases) that are…
Understanding thin sheets, ranging from the macro to the nanoscale, can allow control of mechanical properties such as deformability. Out-of-plane buckling due to in-plane compression can be a key feature in designing new materials. While…
We provide a quantitative description of the helicoid--to--spiral transition in thin ribbons of nematic elastomers using an elementary calculation based on a Koiter-type plate with incompatible reference configuration. Our calculation…
We present a theoretical study of director fields in toroidal geometries with degenerate planar boundary conditions. We find spontaneous chirality: despite the achiral nature of nematics the director configuration show a handedness if the…
The statistical mechanics of a ribbon polymer made up of two semiflexible chains is studied using both analytical techniques and simulation. The system is found to have a crossover transition at some finite temperature, from a type of short…
We combine experiments and theory to investigate the dynamics and orientational fluctuations of ferromagnetic microellipsoids that form a ribbon-like structure due to attractive dipolar forces. When assembled in the ribbon, the ellipsoids…
The shape of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) with spatial variation in the director orientation can be transformed by exposure to a stimulus. Here, informed by previously reported analytical treatments, we prepare complex spiral…
Cholesteric elastomers possess a macroscopic ``phase chirality'' as the director n rotates in a helical fashion along an optical axis $z$ and can be described by a chiral order parameter. This parameter can be tuned by changing the helix…
We explore a novel strategy of patterning nematic elastomers that does not require inscribing the texture directly. It is based on varying the dopant concentration that, beside shifting the phase transition point, affects the nematic…