Related papers: Point Defects, Chirality and Singularity Theory in…
We present a theoretical study of the director fields and energetics of nematic liquid crystal shells with two pairs of surface defects. The pairs of defects can undergo abrupt transitions between a configuration of maximum separation to at…
We describe the geometry of bend distortions in twist-bend nematic liquid crystals in terms of their fundamental degeneracies, which we call $\beta$ lines. These represent a new class of line-like topological defect. We use them to…
We propose that the spin glass phase of cuprates is due to the proliferation of topological defects of a spiral distortion of the antiferromagnet order. Our theory explains straightforwardly the simultaneous existence of short range…
An elastic quartic twist theory has recently been proposed for chromonic liquid crystals, intended to overcome the paradoxical conclusions encountered by the classical Oseen-Frank theory when applied to droplets submerged in an isotropic…
We characterise the particlelike kinematics of charge-carrying topological defects in nematic media via a geometric field theory. This differs from the theory of electromagnetism, with which it is often compared, due to the absence of…
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…
We consider a smectic-A* in a capillary with surface anchoring that favors parallel alignment. If the bulk phase of the smectic is the standard twist-grain-boundary phase of chiral smectics, then there will be a critical radius below which…
Liquid crystal mesophases of achiral molecules are normally achiral, yet in a few materials they spontaneously segregate and form right- and left-handed chiral domains. One mechanism that drives chiral segregation is molecular shape…
We carry out Monte Carlo simulations on fluid membranes with orientational order and multiple edges in the presence and absence of external forces. The membrane resists bending and has an edge tension, the orientational order couples with…
Chromonic liquid crystals (CLCs) are lyotropic materials which are attracting growing interest for their adaptability to living systems. A considerable body of works has been devoted to exploring their properties and applications. In this…
Chirality, the lack of inversion symmetry, is a geometrical property critical to chemistry, biology and material sciences. In the three-dimensional Euclidean space $\mathbb{R}^3$ chriality can ususally be characterized with four-point…
Topological defects are found in a variety of systems, and their existence are robust under perturbations due to their topological nature. Here we introduce a new type of topological defects found in electromagnetic waves: topological spin…
The molecules in lyotropic membranes are typically aligned with the surface normal. When these molecules are chiral, there is a tendency for the molecular direction to twist. These competing effects can reach a compromise by producing…
Molecular chirality plays an important role in chemistry and biology, allows control of biological interactions, affects drugs efficacy and safety, and promotes synthesis of new materials. In general, chirality manifests itself in optical…
Disclination lines in nematic liquid crystals can exist in different geometric conformations, characterised by their director profile. In certain confined, colloidal and even more prominently in chiral nematics, the director profile may…
Cholesteric Liquid Crystals (CLCs), subject to externally applied magnetic fields and confined between two parallel planar surfaces with strong homeotropic anchoring conditions, are found to undergo transitions to different types of…
Many solid materials and liquid crystals exhibit geometric frustration, meaning that they have an ideal local structure that cannot fill up space. For that reason, the global phase must be a compromise between the ideal local structure and…
This letter presents a theory on the coalescence of two spherical liquid droplets that are initially stationary. The evolution of the radius of a liquid neck formed upon coalescence was formulated as an initial value problem and then solved…
This letter presents a scaling theory of the coalescence of two viscous spherical droplets. An initial value problem was formulated and analytically solved for the evolution of the radius of a liquid neck formed upon droplet coalescence.…
We study the shape and texture of finite domains comprising chiral/achiral molecules carrying a tilt field embedded in a 2-dimensional surface. Using a combination of simulations and {\it exact} variational calculations, we determine the…