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Related papers: Liquid Crystals with Patterned Molecular Orientati…

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We show that colloidal molecular crystal states interacting with a periodic substrate, such as an optical trap array, and a rotating external field can undergo a rapid pattern switching in which the orientation of the crystal changes. In…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2015-05-13 C. Reichhardt , C. J. Olson Reichhardt

The transport of motile entities across modulated energy landscapes plays an important role in a range of phenomena in biology, colloidal science and solid-state physics. Here, an easily implementable strategy that allows for the collective…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2020-03-11 Fernando Martínez-Pedrero , Francisco Ortega , Ramón G. Rubio , Carles Calero

Active elastomeric liquid crystal particles with initial cylindrical shapes are obtained by means of soft lithography and polymerization in a strong magnetic field. Gold nanocrystals infiltrated into these particles mediate energy transfer…

This fluid dynamics video showcases how optically induced electrokinetic forces can be used to drive three-dimensional micro-vortices. The strong microfluidic vortices are used constructively in conjunction with other electrokinetic forces…

Fluid Dynamics · Physics 2015-05-13 Stuart J. Williams , Aloke Kumar , Steven T. Wereley

We demonstrate a variety of ordered patterns, including hexagonal structures and chains, formed by colloidal particles (droplets) at the free surface of a nematic liquid crystal (LC). The surface placement introduces a new type of particle…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2009-11-10 I. I. Smalyukh , S. Chernyshuk , B. I. Lev , A. B. Nych , U. Ognysta , V. G. Nazarenko , O. D. Lavrentovich

Collective motion of self-propelled organisms or synthetic particles often termed active fluid has attracted enormous attention in broad scientific community because of it fundamentally non-equilibrium nature. Energy input and interactions…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2014-03-05 Shuang Zhou , Andrey Sokolov , Oleg D Lavrentovich , Igor S Aranson

We create a one-dimensional photonic crystal with strong polarization dependence and tunable by an applied electric field. We accomplish this in a planar microcavity by embedding a cholesteric liquid crystal (LC), which spontaneously forms…

We consider a mathematical model that describes the flow of a Nematic Liquid Crystal (NLC) film placed on a flat substrate, across which a spatially-varying electric potential is applied. Due to their polar nature, NLC molecules interact…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2021-04-07 Ensela Mema , Lou Kondic , Linda J. Cummings

Molecular orientation fluctuations in ferroelectric smectic liquid crystals produce space charges, due to the divergence of the spontaneous polarization. These space charges interact with mobile ions, so that one must consider the coupled…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2007-08-16 Robert A. Pelcovits , J. -B. Lee , R. B. Meyer

Polarization flutter, produced by an applied AC electric field drives an equilibrium ferroelectric nematic ($\mathrm{N_F}$) liquid crystal (LC) through a transition into a dissipative active ferroelectric nematic state exhibiting strong…

Stimuli-responsive liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) with a strong coupling of orientational molecular order and rubber-like elasticity, show a great potential as working elements in soft robotics, sensing, transport and propulsion systems.…

We investigate the transport of interacting active run-and-tumble particles moving under an external drift force through a periodic array of obstacles for increasing drive amplitudes. For high activity where the system forms a motility…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-04-23 C. Reichhardt , C. J. O. Reichhardt

We theoretically study the electrokinetic problem of a pressure-induced liquid flow through a narrow long channel with charged walls, going beyond the classical Helmholtz-Schmolukowski picture by considering the surprisingly strong combined…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2018-08-01 B. L. Werkhoven , J. C. Everts , S. Samin , R. van Roij

We investigate the flow of an electrolyte through a rigid nanochannel decorated with a surface charge pattern. Employing lattice Boltzmann and dissipative particle dynamics methods, as well as analytical theory, we show that the…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-01-12 Tine Curk , Sergi G. Leyva , Ignacio Pagonabarraga

Electrophoresis is the motion of particles relative to a surrounding fluid driven by a uniform electric field. In conventional electrophoresis, the electrophoretic velocity grows linearly with the applied field. Nonlinear effects with a…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2024-03-19 Mojtaba Rajabi , Taras Turiv , Bing-Xiang Li , Hend Baza , Dmitry Golovaty , Oleg D. Lavrentovich

We present nonlinear dynamic equations for nematic and smectic $A$ liquid crystals in the presence of an alternating electric field and explain their derivation in detail. The local electric field acting in any liquid-crystalline system is…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2023-06-30 E. S. Pikina , E. I. Kats , A. R. Muratov , V. V. Lebedev

Many active particles, both of biological and synthetic origin, can have a light controllable propulsion speed, a property that in biology is commonly referred to as photokinesis. Here we investigate directed transport of photokinetic…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2018-07-05 Claudio Maggi , Luca Angelani , Giacomo Frangipane , Roberto Di Leonardo

A comprehensive approach for simulating lasing dynamics in a liquid crystal based laser is presented. The approach takes into account the transformation of the liquid crystal structure caused by applied voltage. In particular, it allows us…

The electro-osmotic flow through a channel between two undulated surfaces induced by an external electric field is investigated. The gap of the channel is very small and comparable to the thickness of the electrical double layers. A lattice…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2016-05-24 Hiroaki Yoshida , Tomoyuki Kinjo , Hitoshi Washizu

Viscous electronics is an emerging field dealing with systems in which strongly interacting electrons behave as a fluid. Electron viscous flows are governed by a nonlocal current-field relation which renders the spatial patterns of current…

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics · Physics 2018-01-24 Gregory Falkovich , Leonid Levitov