Related papers: Surface induced structures in nematic liquid cryst…
Recent experiments on vesicles formed from block copolymers with liquid-crystalline side-chains reveal a rich variety of vesicle morphologies. The additional internal order ("structure") developed by these self-assembled block copolymer…
We outline the necessary background to understand the interaction of colloids in liquid crystals through boundary conditions and topology.
Colloidal particles in a liquid crystal (LC) behave very differently from their counterparts in isotropic fluids. Elastic nature of the orientational order and surface anchoring of the director cause long-range anisotropic interactions and…
Monopole-like electrostatic interactions are ubiquitous in biology and condensed matter, but they are often screened by counter-ions and cannot be switched from attractive to repulsive. In colloidal science, where the prime goal is to…
Many of the biological phenomena involve collective dynamics driven by self-propelled motion and nonequilibrium force (i.e., activity) that result in features unexpected from equilibrium physics. On the other hand, biological experiments…
We study the phase diagram of director structures in cholesteric liquid crystals of negative dielectric anisotropy in homeotropic cells of thickness d which is smaller than the cholesteric pitch p. The basic control parameters are the…
We consider a two-orbital tight-binding model defined on a layered three-dimensional hexagonal lattice to investigate the properties of topological nodal lines and their associated drumhead surface states. We examine these surface states in…
The complexation of micelles or charged nanoparticles with neutral-charged block copolymers in aqueous solutions leads to the formation of colloidal superstructures also termed 'colloidal complexes'. Their primary interest relies in their…
The effect of rough walls on the phase behaviour of a confined liquid crystal (LC) fluid is studied using constant pressure Monte Carlo simulations. The LC is modelled as a fluid of soft ellipsoidal molecules and the rough walls are…
Bubbles made of smectic liquid crystals (LC) can display buckling and wrinkling. These deformations are induced in the course of the relaxation of an elongated bubble towards a sphere. The bubbles are created through the collapse of a…
We explore micropatterned director structures of aqueous lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal (LCLC) films created on square lattice cylindrical-micropost substrates. The structures are manipulated by modulating the LCLC mesophases and their…
Formation of nanoscale laser-induced periodic surface structures on thin metal films (of the size of the optical penetration depth) is a yet unexplored area that is expected to open new routes for laser patterning and a wealth of exciting…
A surface instability is reported in thin nematic films of 5CB and 8CB, occurring near the nematic--isotropic phase transition. Although this instability leads to patterns reminiscent of spinodal dewetting, we show that it is actually based…
We study the equilibrium configuration of a nematic liquid crystal bounded by a rough surface. The wrinkling of the surface induces a partial melting in the degree of orientation. This softened region penetrates the bulk up to a length…
Surface plasmons in a centrosymmetric metal nanocrystal have been perceived as achiral, based on the quantum-mechanical theory of molecular optical activity. The one-electron theory is insufficient to describe optical activity in crystals,…
Surface interactions are responsible for many properties of condensed matter, ranging from crystal faceting to the kinetics of phase transitions. Usually, these interactions are polar along the normal to the interface and apolar within the…
Using a minimal model based on the continuum theory of a 2D hard-core/square-shoulder ensemble, we reinterpret the main features of cluster mesophases formed by colloids with soft concave repulsive interactions. We rederive the lattice…
The recently discovered ferroelectric nematic liquids incorporate to the functional combination of fluidity, processability and anisotropic optical properties of nematic liquids, an astonishing range of physical properties derived from the…
Inside the metals, semiconductors, and magnets of our everyday experience, electrons are uniformly distributed throughout the material. By contrast, electrons often form clumpy patterns inside of strongly correlated electronic systems…
We introduce a 3D porous photonic crystal whose inner surfaces are chemically functionalized in arbitrary spatial patterns with micro-scale resolution. We use this platform to demonstrate pattern-formation.