Related papers: Flexoelxctricity of the distorted twist bend nemat…
While twist-bend nematic phases have been extensively studied, the experimental observation of two dimensional, oscillating splay-bend phases is recent. We consider two theoretical models that have been used to explain the formation of…
We develop a lattice model for the splay flexoelectric effect in nematic liquid crystals. In this model, each lattice site has a spin representing the local molecular orientation, and the interaction between neighboring spins represents…
The ground state of twist-bend nematic liquid crystals is a heliconical molecular arrangement in which the nematic director precesses uniformly about an axis, making a fixed angle with it. Both precession senses are allowed in the ground…
We develop a Landau theory for bend flexoelectricity in liquid crystals of bent-core molecules. In the nematic phase of the model, the bend flexoelectric coefficient increases as we reduce the temperature toward the nematic to polar phase…
Flexoelectricity induced by strain gradient in dielectrics is highly desirable for electromechanical actuating and sensing systems. It is broadly adopted that flexoelectric polarization responds linearly to strain gradient without…
The flexoelectric (FE) effect provides a linear coupling between electric polarization and orientational deformation in liquid crystals. It influences many electrooptical phenomena and it is used in some bistable nematic devices. A…
We present in this paper a detailed analysis of the flexoelectric instability of a planar nematic layer in the presence of an alternating electric field (frequency $\omega$), which leads to stripe patterns (flexodomains) in the plane of the…
This paper develops the equilibrium equations describing the flexoelectric effect in soft dielectrics under large deformations. Previous works have developed related theories using a flexoelectric coupling tensor of mixed material-spatial…
We report experimental and theoretical results on the flexoelectric instability and crossover between flexoelectric domains and electroconvection in a hybrid aligned nematic MBBA under d.c. voltage. At threshold a spatially periodic…
Dielectric spectroscopy of a twist bend nematic phase of an achiral bent core liquid crystalline compound under DC bias is used to investigate its response to electric field. Two collective relaxation processes are revealed, these are…
A rectangular plate of dielectric elastomer exhibiting gradients of material properties through its thickness will deform inhomogeneously when a potential difference is applied to compliant electrodes on its major surfaces, because each…
Soft robotics requires materials that are capable of large deformation and amenable to actuation with external stimuli such as electric fields. Energy harvesting, biomedical devices, flexible electronics and sensors are some other…
The twist-bend nematic phase (NTB) is characterized by a conically twisting director and by a dramatic softening of the bend elastic constant before the transition to NTB phase. In the recently found splay nematic phase (NS) the splay…
The helical-flexo-electro-optic effect shows interesting in-plane electro-optic switching behaviour due to flexoelectric coupling with applied electric fields. Previous understanding of the behaviour has been generally based on an analytic…
The morphology of spherically confined flexoelectric fluid membrane vesicles in an external uniform electric field is studied numerically. Due to the deformations induced by the confinement, the membrane becomes polarized resulting in an…
The recent discovery of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystalline phases marks a major breakthrough in soft matter research. An intermediate phase, often observed between the nonpolar and the ferroelectric nematic phase, shows a distinct…
It is highly desirable to discover an electromechanical coupling that allows a dielectric material to generate curvature in response to a uniform electric field, which would add a new degree of freedom for designing actuators.…
The nonlinear elastic properties of nematic liquid crystals have acquired new interest with the recent experimental observation of bulk modulated nematic phases which are composed by achiral molecules. We extend the Oseen-Zocher-Frank's…
A strong coupling between electric polarization and elastic deformation in solids is an important factor in creating useful electromechanical nanodevices. Such coupling is typically allowed in insulating materials with inversion symmetry…
The critical behavior at the transition from uniform nematic to twist-bend modulated nematic phase is revealed and shown to be well explained by the mean field approximation. The study was performed on a group of materials that exhibit an…