Related papers: Key-Lock Colloids in a Nematic Liquid Crystal
Liquid crystal networks combine the orientational order of liquid crystals with the elastic properties of polymer networks, leading to a vast application potential in the field of responsive coatings, e.g., for haptic feedback,…
Colloidal interactions in nematic liquid crystals can be described as interactions between elastic multipoles that depend on particle shape, topology, chirality, boundary conditions and induced topological defects. Here, we describe a…
Theoretical description of the elastic interaction between colloidal particles in NLC with incorporation of the higher order elastic terms beyond the limit of dipole and qudrupole interactions is proposed. The expression for the elastic…
A singular potential method in the Q tensor order parameter representation of a nematic liquid crystal is used to study the equilibrium configuration of a disclination dipole. Unlike the well studied isotropic limit (the so called one…
We investigate the tight packing of nematic polymers inside a confining hard sphere. We model the polymer {\sl via} the continuum Frank elastic free energy augmented by a simple density dependent part as well as by taking proper care of the…
We examine the dynamics of a single colloidal particle driven through a colloidal lattice which can distort in response to the driven particle. We find a remarkably rich variety of dynamical locking phenomena as we vary the angle of the…
The ability to manipulate polar entities with multiple external fields opens exciting possibilities for emerging functionalities and novel applications in spin systems, photonics, metamaterials, and soft matter. Liquid crystals (LCs),…
We propose a simple surface potential favoring the planar degenerate anchoring of nematic liquid crystals, i.e., the tendency of the molecules to align parallel to one another along any direction parallel to the surface. We show that, at…
We establish, as $\rho\to 0$, an asymptotic expansion for the minimal Dirichlet energy of $\mathbb S^2$-valued maps outside a finite number of three-dimensional particles of size $\rho$ with fixed centers $x_j\in\mathbb{R}^3$, under general…
We study the possibility of the spinodal decomposition in the induction period of the polymer crystallization. This phenomenon was first reported in an X-ray scattering experiment, and has still been controversial due to various experiments…
We propose a simple theoretical model which explains a formation of dipolar 2D and 3D colloidal structures in nematic liquid crystal. Colloidal particles are treated as effective hard spheres interacting via their elastic dipole, quadrupole…
We investigate effective interactions between a colloidal particle, immersed in a binary mixture of smaller spheres, and a semipermeable membrane. The colloid is modeled as a big hard sphere and the membrane is represented as an infinitely…
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…
In the last years self-motile droplets attracted the attention of scientists from different fields ranging from applied biology to theoretical physics, because of their promising technological applications and important biological…
The effective interaction between a sphere with an open cavity (lock) and a spherical macroparticle (key), both immersed in a hard sphere fluid, is studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. As a result, a 2d map of the key-lock effective…
Recent theories predict that when a supercooled liquid approaches the glass transition, particle clusters with a special "amorphous order" nucleate within the liquid, which lead to static correlations dictating the dramatic slowdown of…
Nematic liquid crystals exhibit configurations in which the underlying ordering changes markedly on macroscopic length scales. Such structures include topological defects in the nematic phase and tactoids within nematic-isotropic…
We perform computational investigations of electrolyte-mediated interactions of charged colloidal particles confined within nanochannels. We investigate the role of discrete ion effects, valence, and electrolyte strength on colloid-wall…
The bent-core liquid crystals (LCs) are highly regarded as the next-generation materials for electro-optic devices. The nematic (N) phase of these LCs possesses highly ordered smectic-like cybotactic clusters which are promising in terms of…
The understanding of self-organization in the twist-bend nematic $(N_\text{TB})$ phase, identified in 2011 in liquid crystal dimers, is at the forefront of soft matter research worldwide. This new nematic phase develops structural chirality…