Related papers: Liquid Crystal Distortions Revealed by an Octupola…
Polar crystal surfaces play an important role in the functionality of many materials, and have been studied extensively over many decades. In this article, a theoretical framework is presented that extends existing theories by placing the…
Handedness of the director twist in cholesteric liquid crystals is commonly assumed to be the same throughout the medium, determined solely by the chirality of constituent molecules or chiral additives, albeit distortions of the…
We consider the simplest one-constant model, put forward by J. Ericksen, for nematic liquid crystals with variable degree of orientation. The equilibrium state is described by a director field $\mathbf{n}$ and its degree of orientation $s$,…
The notion of defects in crystalline phases of matter has been extremely powerful for understanding crystal growth, deformation and melting. Many of these discontinuities in the periodic order of crystals are well described by the Burgers…
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…
Using density-functional theory in the restricted-orientation approximation, we analyse the liquid-crystal patterns and phase behaviour of a fluid of hard rectangular particles confined in a two-dimensional square nanocavity of side length…
The elastic theory of chromonic liquid crystals is not completely established. We know, for example, that for anomalously low twist constants (needed for chromonics) the classical Oseen-Frank theory may entail paradoxical consequences when…
Direct means of measuring the susceptibility towards an octupole order parameter are proposed via a sixth-rank tensor property. Equivalent derivatives of more conventionally measured tensor properties, including elastic stiffness, magnetic…
In this work we consider bubbles that can form spontaneously when a two-dimensional (2D) crystal is transferred to a substrate with gases or liquids trapped at the crystal-substrate interface. The underlying mechanics may be described by a…
The paper is concerned with various issues surrounding the mathematical description of defects in models of liquid crystals, drawing on experience from solid mechanics. The roles played by a suitable choice of function space and by the…
Using a generalized order parameter gradient expansion within density functional theory, we derive a phase-field-crystal model for liquid crystals composed by apolar particles in three spatial dimensions. Both the translational density and…
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…
Freestanding tubular crystals offer a general description of crystalline order on deformable surfaces with cylindrical topology, such as single-walled carbon nanotubes, microtubules, and recently reported colloidal assemblies. These systems…
We study elastic interactions between colloidal particles and deformation landscapes of undulations in a cholesteric liquid crystal under an electric field applied normal to cholesteric layers. The onset of undulation instability is…
So-called polar liquid crystals possess spontaneous long-range mutual orientation of their electric dipole moments, conferring bulk polarity to fluid phases of matter. The combination of polarity and fluidity leads to complex phase…
Under mechanical deformation, most materials exhibit both elastic and fluid (or plastic) responses. No existing formalism derived from microscopic principles encompasses both their fluid-like and solid-like aspects. We define the {\it…
We study the deformation of a two-dimensional viscous droplet in simple shear in the presence of odd viscosity. We derive an analytical solution for the droplet shape and surrounding flow field within the framework of odd Stokes flow,…
Anisotropic fluids appear in a diverse array of systems, from liquid-crystal displays to bacterial swarms, and are characterized by orientational order. Large colloidal particles immersed in such environments disturb the medium's…
We describe the occurence and properties of liquid crystal phases showing two dimensional splay and bend distortions which are stabilised by flexoelectric interactions. These phases are characterised by regions of locally double splayed…
Crystalline assemblages of identical sub-units packed together and elastically bent in the form of a torus have been found in the past ten years in a variety of systems of surprisingly different nature, such as viral capsids, self-assembled…