Related papers: Helicoids in chiral liquid crystals under external…
In nematic liquid crystals (NLCs), topological defects of a chiral origin play a role in phase transitions and lead to phase configurations of nontrivial topology, like those in neutron stars and helium in the A-phase. In the…
Charged clusters in liquid helium in an external electric field form a two-dimensional system below the helium surface. This 2D system undergoes a phase transition from a liquid to a Wigner crystal at rather high temperatures. Contrary to…
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…
The stability of the equilibrium configurations of a nematic liquid crystal confined between two coaxial cylinders is analysed when a radial electric field is applied and the flexoelectric effect is taken into account. The threshold for…
Widely known for their uses in displays and electro-optics, liquid crystals are more than just technological marvels. They vividly reveal the topology and structure of various solitonic and singular field configurations, often markedly…
The theory of elastic interaction of micron size axially symmetric colloidal particles immersed into confined nematic liquid crystal has been proposed. General formulas are obtained for the self energy of one colloidal particle and…
Certain nematic liquid crystals, e.g., those formed by banana-shaped molecules, can exhibit a low-temperature twist-bend nematic (Ntb) phase. Upon addition of chiral dopants, a chiral version of the twist-bend phase (N*tb) can be observed…
As typical complex liquids, ionic liquids (ILs) exhibit phases beyond the description of simple liquid theories. In particular, with an intermediate cationic side-chain length, ILs can form the nanoscale segregated liquid (NSL) phase, which…
We consider a Lebwohl-Lasher model of chiral particles confined in a planar cell (slit pore) with different boundary conditions, and solve it using mean-field theory. The phase behaviour of the system with respect to temperature and pore…
Nuclei of ordered materials emerging from the isotropic state usually show a shape topologically equivalent to a sphere; the well-known examples are crystals and nematic liquid crystal droplets. In this work, we explore experimentally and…
Colloids dispersed in nematic liquid crystals form topological composites in which colloid-associated defects mediate interactions while adhering to fundamental topological constraints. Better realising the promise of such materials…
Capillary microflows of liquid crystal phases are central to material, biological and bio-inspired systems. Despite their fundamental and applied significance, a detailed understanding of the stationary behaviour of nematic liquid crystals…
A Landau theory is presented for the structural transition of electrically stabilized colloidal crystals under shear. The model suggests that a structural transition from an ordered layered colloidal crystal into a disordered structure…
We perform Monte Carlo simulations of a simplified two-dimensional model for colloidal hard spheres in an external uniaxial AC electric field. Experimentally, the external field induces dipole moments in the colloidal particles, which in…
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…
Novel types of barrel-shaped chiral skyrmions can exist as isolated topological defects or as bound states in magnetic nanolayers with intrinsic and surface/interface induced chirality. The equilibrium parameters of chiral modulations…
We show using numerical simulations that a rich variety of novel colloidal crystalline states are realized on square and triangular two dimensional periodic substrates which can be experimentally created using crossed laser arrays. When…
We study the phase diagram of director structures in cholesteric liquid crystals of negative dielectric anisotropy in homeotropic cells of thickness d which is smaller than the cholesteric pitch p. The basic control parameters are the…
Particle shape and medium chirality are two key features recently used to control anisotropic colloidal self-assembly and dynamics in liquid crystals. Here, we study magnetically responsive gourd-shaped colloidal particles dispersed in…
Compared to isotropic liquids, orientational order of nematic liquid crystals makes their rheological properties more involved, and thus requires fine control of the flow parameters to govern the orientational patterns. In microfluidic…