Related papers: Modulated nematic structures and chiral symmetry b…
By molecular modeling we demonstrate that the nematic long-range order discovered in bent-core liquid crystal systems should reveal further spatially homogeneous phases. Two of them are identified as a tetrahedratic nematic ($N_T$) phase…
We study a new type of 2D active material that exhibits macroscopic phases with two emergent broken symmetries: self-propelled achiral particles that form dense hexatic clusters, which spontaneously rotate. We experimentally realise active…
Recent experimental evidences point to rotation symmetry breaking superconductivity in doped Bi$_2$Se$_3$, where the relevant order parameter belongs to a two-component odd-parity representation $E_u$ of the crystal point group. The $E_u$…
We show that chiral symmetry can be broken spontaneously in one-component systems with isotropic interactions, i.e. many-particle systems having maximal a priori symmetry. This is achieved by designing isotropic potentials that lead to…
We study a spin system with two- and four-spin exchange interactions on the triangular lattice, which is a possible model for the nuclear magnetism of solid $^3$He layers. It is found that a novel spin structure with scalar chiral order…
Dipoles in triangular optical ladders constitute a flexible platform for the study of the interplay between geometric frustration and long-range anisotropic interactions, and in particular for the observation of the spontaneous onset of…
Monte Carlo simulation performed on a lattice system of biaxial molecules possessing $D_{2h}$ symmetry and interacting with a second rank anisotropic dispersion potential yields three distinct macroscopic phases depending on the biaxiality…
Recent numerical simulations of hard helical particle systems unveiled the existence of a novel chiral nematic phase, termed screw-like, characterised by the helical organization of the particle C$_2$ symmetry axes round the nematic…
We calculate the interaction between two spherical colloidal particles embedded in the isotropic phase of a nematogenic liquid. The surface of the particles induces wetting nematic coronas that mediate an elastic interaction. In the weak…
Nematic twist--bend is the fifth nematic phase recognized in nature. This phase exhibits spiral orientational order, thus it is a chiral structure and it can be stabilized in systems composed of achiral molecules. The microscopic origin of…
The possible symmetries of the biaxial nematic phase are examined against the implications of the presently available experimental results. Contrary to the widespread notion that biaxial nematics have orthorhombic symmetry, our study shows…
We investigate the self-organization of a binary mixture of similar sized rods and dipolar soft spheres by means of Monte-Carlo simulations. We model the interparticle interactions by employing anisotropic Gay-Berne, dipolar and soft-sphere…
Ultracold dipolar Fermi gases represent relatively unexplored, strongly correlated systems arising from long-range and anisotropic interactions. We demonstrate the possibility of a spontaneous symmetry breaking biaxial phase in these…
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…
Dynamic simulations of the isotropic-nematic phase transformation of liquid crystal droplets under homeotropic anchoring are found to predict chiral symmetry-breaking dynamics. These observations occur when using material parameters for…
We study the symmetry and the spatial uniformity of orientational order of the biaxial nematic phase in the light of recent experimental observations of phase biaxiality in thermotropic bent-core and calamitic-tetramer nematics. We present…
Strong electron interactions can drive metallic systems toward a variety of well-known symmetry-broken phases, but the instabilities of correlated metals with strong spin-orbit coupling have only recently begun to be explored. We uncovered…
What kind of one-dimensional modulated nematic structures (ODMNS) can form nonchiral and chiral bent-core and dimeric materials? Here, using Landau-deGennes theory of nematics, extended to account for molecular steric polarization, we study…
We present a theoretical model which describes the polarization modulated and layer undulated structure of the B7 phase and gives the phase transition from the synclinic ferroelectric B2 phase to the B7 phase as observed experimentally. The…
In magnetic insulators, the sense of rotation of the magnetization is associated with novel phases of matter and exotic transport phenomena. Aimed to find new sources of chiral magnetism rooted in intrinsic fields and geometry, twisted…