Related papers: Smectic phases in ionic liquid crystals
Liquid crystalline polymers are materials of considerable scientific interest and technological value to society [1-3]. An important subset of such materials exhibit rubber-like elasticity; these can combine the remarkable optical…
Using optical microscopy, phase shifting interferometry and atomic force microscopy, we demonstrate the existence of undulated structures in the meniscus of ferroelectric smectic-C* films. The meniscus is characterized by a periodic…
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…
Since a rigorous microscopic treatment of a nematic fluid system based on a pairwise interaction potential is immensely complex we had introduced a simple mean field potential which was a modification of the Maier-Saupe potential in a…
Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) profiles revealed the existence of magnetic textures like liquid crystals in the low-temperature helical phase of Fe0.7Co0.3Si, isomorphous of MnSi.
In a type II superconductor in a moderate magnetic field, the superconductor to normal state transition may be described as a phase transition in which the vortex lattice melts into a liquid. In a biaxial superconductor, or even a uniaxial…
We investigate the phase behaviour of a two-dimensional colloidal model system of ultra-soft particles on a substrate which varies periodically along one spatial direction. Our calculations are based on mean-field density functional theory…
Elastic interactions arising from a difference of lattice spacing between two coherent phases can have a strong influence on the phase separation (coarsening) of alloys. If the elastic moduli are different in the two phases, the elastic…
Recent cutting-edge experiments have provided {\it in situ} structure characterization and measurements of the pressure ($P$), density ($\bar{\rho}$) and temperature ($T$) of shock compressed silicon in the 100 GPa range of pressures and…
We explore the structure of nuclei and topological defects in the first-order phase transition between the nematic (N) and isotropic (I) phases in lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs). The LCLCs are formed by self-assembled molecular…
The order parameter of the smectic liquid crystal phase is the same as that of a superfluid or superconductor, namely a complex scalar field. We show that the essential difference in boundary conditions between these systems leads to a…
The phase-field-crystal model is used to access the structure and thermodynamics of interfaces between two coexisting liquid crystalline phases in two spatial dimensions. Depending on the model parameters there is a variety of possible…
A phenomenological free energy model is proposed to describe the behavior of smectic liquid crystals, an intermediate phase that exhibits orientational order and layering at the molecular scale. Advantageous properties render the functional…
Ferroelectric nematic (NF) phase and related polar liquid-crystalline phases form a new class of strongly polarized yet fluid soft matter. Well-recognized heliconical ferroelectric phases such as NTBF and SmC_P^H exist, but their…
We propose several versions of primitive models of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) and develop a mean spherical approximation (MSA)-type theory for their description. RTIL is modeled as a two-component mixture of hard-sphere anions…
Self-assembly of organic molecules represents a fascinating playground to create various liquid crystalline (LC) nanostructures. In this work, we study layer undulations on micrometer scale in smectic A phases for achiral compounds,…
The discovery of the ferroelectric nematic phase has brought with it a plethora of new polar liquid crystalline phases. One in particular is the anti-ferroelectric smectic A SmA\textsubscript{AF} phase. In this letter we show via…
Room temperature ionic liquids (ILs) at solid surfaces have been recognized for their significant interfacial properties in electrochemical and electronic devices. To ascertain the interface effects, we investigate dynamical and structural…
We investigate, via three-dimensional atomistic computer simulations, phase separation in an alloy under external load. A regular two-dimensional array of cylindrical precipitates, forming a mesoscopic precipitate lattice, evolves in the…
We consider both equilibrium and kinetic aspects of the phase separation (``thermal faceting") of thermodynamically unstable crystal surfaces into a hill--valley structure. The model we study is an Ising lattice gas for a simple cubic…