Related papers: Instabilities induced by Light in Liquid Crystal C…
We report on two instabilities called viscous fountain and viscous entrainment triggered at the interface between two liquids by the action of bulk flows driven by a laser beam. These streaming flows are due to light scattering losses in…
We review the recent developments in the field of photonic lattices emphasizing their unique properties for controlling linear and nonlinear propagation of light. We draw some important links between optical lattices and photonic crystals…
Transport of fluids and particles at the microscale is an important theme both in fundamental and applied science. One of the most successful approaches is to use an electric field, which requires the system to carry or induce electric…
The inkjet-fabricated liquid crystal (LC) droplet device not only capitalizes on the intrinsic birefringence properties of liquid crystals but also leverages the hemispherical shape of droplet devices on substrates. This configuration…
Structural disorder results in multiple scattering in real photonic crystals, which have been widely used for applications and studied for fundamental interests. The interaction of light with such complex photonic media is expected to show…
Liquid crystals have attracted enormous interest because of the variety of their phases and richness of their application. The interplay of general physical symmetries and specific molecular features generates a myriad of different…
We investigate the transverse instability of two-component solitons forming in a planar waveguide operating in the regime of strong light-matter coupling. The instability emerges as a result of the coupling between transverse diffraction of…
The conditions under which stable evolution of two nonlinear interacting waves are derived within the context of nematic crystals. Two cases are considered: plane waves and solitons. In the first case, the modulation instability analysis…
In this paper, the two-dimensional pure bending of a hyperelastic substrate coated by a nematic liquid crystal elastomer (abbreviated as NLCE) is studied within the framework of nonlinear elasticity. The governing system, arising from the…
We study spatially localized optical vortices created by self-trapping of partially incoherent light with a phase dislocation in a biased photorefractive crystal. In a contrast to the decay of coherent self-trapped vortex beams due to the…
The work is devoted to the self-action of laser beams propagating in the isotropic phase of a cholesteric liquid crystal near the transition temperature to the mesophase in a wide range of parameter values characterizing the nonlocality of…
This review introduces the elasticity theory of two-dimensional crystals and nematic liquid crystals on curved surfaces, the energetics of topological defects (disclinations, dislocations and pleats) in these ordered phases, and the…
Photoactive liquid crystal elastomers are polymer networks of liquid crystal mesogens embedded with chromophores like azobenzene. They undergo large deformation when illuminated by light of a certain wavelength through photochemical…
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…
Dynamic control of laser emission direction is crucial for developing compact and reconfigurable nanophotonic devices. In this work, we numerically present a plasmonic nanolaser (PNL) integrated with a voltage-controlled liquid crystal (LC)…
The pronounced light-matter interactions in photonic crystals make them interesting as opto-fludic "building blocks" for lab-on-a-chip applications. We show how conducting electrolytes cause dissipation and smearing of the…
An unresolved issue in the theory of liquid crystals is the molecular basis of the electroclinic effect in the smectic-A phase. Recent x-ray scattering experiments suggest that, in a class of siloxane-containing liquid crystals, an electric…
The elastocapillary instability of a flexible plate plunged in a liquid bath is analysed theoretically. We show that the plate can bend due to two separate destabilizing mechanisms, when the liquid is partially wetting the solid. For…
The translation and shape deformations of a passive viscous Newtonian droplet immersed in an active nematic liquid crystal under circular confinement are analyzed using a linear stability analysis. We focus on the case of a sharply aligned…
Crystals melt when thermal excitations or the concentration of defects in the lattice is sufficiently high. Upon melting, the crystalline long-range order vanishes, turning the solid to a fluid. In contrast to this classical scenario of…