Related papers: Surface alignment disorder and pseudo-Casimir forc…
We consider the effective pseudo-Casimir interaction forces mediated by a nematic liquid-crystalline film bounded by two planar surfaces, one of which imposes a random (disordered) distribution of the preferred anchoring axis in the…
We examine fluctuation-induced (pseudo-Casimir) interactions in nematic liquid-crystalline films confined between two surfaces, where one of the surfaces imposes a strong homeotropic anchoring (ensuring a uniform mean director profile),…
We analyze the transverse intersubstrate pseudo-Casimir force, arising as a result of thermal fluctuations of the liquid crystalline layers of a smectic-A film confined between two planar substrates in a bookshelf geometry, in which the…
We investigate the effect of quenched surface disorder on effective interactions between two planar surfaces immersed in fluids which are near criticality and belong to the Ising bulk universality class. We consider the case that, in the…
The confining effect of a spherical substrate inducing anchoring (normal to the surface) of rod-like liquid crystal molecules contained in a thin film spread over it has been investigated with regard to possible changes in the nature of the…
We investigate the pseudo-Casimir force acting between two charged surfaces confining a single polyelectrolyte chain with opposite charge. We expand the exact free energy to the second order in the local electrostatic field as well as the…
Recent experiments have measured the critical Casimir force acting on a colloid immersed in a binary liquid mixture near its continuous demixing phase transition and exposed to a chemically structured substrate. Motivated by these…
We study the critical Casimir force for a film geometry in the Ising universality class. We employ a homogeneous adsorption preference on one of the confining surfaces, while the opposing surface exhibits quenched random disorder, leading…
With quenched disorder, we introduce two-dimensional active nematics suspended in an incompressible fluid. We write the coarse-grained hydrodynamic equations of motion for slow variables, viz. density, orientation and flow fields. The…
We consider a nematic liquid crystal confined by two parallel planar interfaces, one being laterally homogeneous and the other provided by a substrate endowed with a periodic chemical stripe pattern. Based on continuum theory we analyze the…
We present a neutron scattering analysis of the structure of the smectic liquid crystal octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB) confined in one-dimensional nanopores of porous silicon films (PS). The smectic transition is completely suppressed, leading to…
The effect of annealing on the dynamical behavior of swelling for ultrathin polyacrylamide films deposited on silicon substrates have been studied using X-ray reflectivity technique. The spin coated polyacrylamide films of similar…
We study the modification to the energy level shifts of an atom induced by the quenched monopolar charge disorder inside the bulk of neighboring dielectric slabs as well as their surfaces. By assuming that the charge disorder follows…
Recent experiments on the wetting of $^{4}$He have shown that the film becomes thinner at the $\lambda$ transition, and in the superfluid phase. The difference in thickness above and below the transition has been attributed to a Casimir…
Among the various kinds of effective forces in soft matter, the spatial range and the direction of the so-called critical Casimir force - which is generated by the enhanced thermal fluctuations close to a continuous phase transition - can…
Charged systems with partially annealed charge disorder are investigated using field-theoretic and replica methods. Charge disorder is assumed to be confined to macroion surfaces surrounded by a cloud of mobile neutralizing counterions in…
A theoretical analysis of surface fluctuations of a freely standing thermotropic smectic-A liquid crystal film is provided, including the effects of viscous hydrodynamics. We find two surface dynamic modes (undulation and peristaltic). For…
We present both analytical and numerical results for the behaviour of the Casimir force in a Ginzburg-Landau type model of a film of a simple fluid or binary liquid mixture in which the confining surfaces are strongly adsorbing but…
When masless excitations are limited or modified by the presence of material bodies one observes a force atcing between them generally called Casimir force. Such excitations are present in any fluid system close to its true bulk critical…
Partially wetting nematic liquid crystal (NLC) films on substrates are unstable to dewetting-type instabilities due to destablizing solid/NLC interaction forces. These instabilities are modified by the nematic nature of the films, which…