Related papers: Computational molecular field theory for nematic l…
We predict spontaneous nematic order in an ensemble of active force generators with elastic interactions as a minimal model for early nematic alignment of short stress fibers in non-motile, adhered cells. Mean-field theory is formally…
Partially phase-separated liquid-crystal/polymer dispersions display highly fibrillar domain morphologies that are dramatically different from the typical structures found in isotropic mixtures. To explain this, we numerically explore the…
A promising approach in designing composite materials with unusual physical behavior combines solid nanostructures and orientationally ordered soft matter at the mesoscale. Such composites not only inherit properties of their constituents…
An extension to a high-order model for the direct isotropic/smectic-A liquid crystalline phase transition was derived to take into account thermal effects including anisotropic thermal diffusion and latent heat of phase-ordering.…
Anisotropic rod-like particles form liquid crystalline phases with varying degrees of orientational and translational order. When confined geometrically, these phases can give rise to topological defects, which can be selected and…
We study a discrete version of a biaxial nematic liquid crystal model with external fields via an approach based on the solution of differential identities for the partition function. In the thermodynamic limit, we derive the free energy of…
This paper aims to provide an introduction to a basic form of the ${\bf Q}$-tensor approach to modelling liquid crystals, which has seen increased interest in recent years. The increase in interest in this type of modelling approach has…
Defects are a ubiquitous feature of ordered media. They have certain universal features, independent of the underlying physical system, reflecting their topological origins. While the topological properties of defects are robust, they…
A range of monodomain nematic liquid crystal elastomers containing differing proportions of photo-isomerisable mesogenic moieties, which turn from a rod-like to a kinked shape upon ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, was studied. Depending on the…
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 develop the scaled particle theory to describe the thermodynamic properties and orientation ordering of a binary mixture of hard spheres (HS) and hard spherocylinders (HSC) confined in a disordered porous medium. Using this theory the…
Statistical theory of the dielectric susceptibility of polar liquid crystals is proposed. The molecules are not uniaxial but similar to cones. It is assumed that the permanent dipole moment of a molecule is parallel to the axis of the…
Directional media, such as nematic liquid crystals and ferromagnets, are characterized by their topologically stabilized defects in directional order. In nematics, boundary conditions and surface-treated inclusions often create complex…
The two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in moderate magnetic fields in ultra-clean AlAs-GaAs heterojunctions exhibits transport anomalies suggestive of a compressible, anisotropic metallic state. Using scaling arguments and Monte Carlo…
The phase diagram of the Gross-Neveu model in $2+1$ space-time dimensions at non-zero temperature and chemical potential is studied in the limit of infinitely many flavors, focusing on the possible existence of inhomogeneous phases, where…
We study the role of the control parameter triggering nematic order (temperature or concentration) on the dynamical behavior of a system of nanorods under shear. Our study is based on a set of mesoscopic equations of motion for the…
Topological defects are ubiquitous on surfaces with orientational order fields. Here, we study equilibrium states generated by the feedback between geometry and nematic order on fluid membranes with an integer topological defect. When the…
Despite their considerable practical and biological applications, the link between molecular properties, assembly conditions and self-organized structure in confined polymer solutions remains elusive. Here, we explore the lyotropic nematic…
We propose a lattice statistical model to investigate the phase diagrams and the soft responses of nematic liquid-crystal elastomers. Using suitably scaled infinite-range interactions, we obtain exact self-consistent equations for the…
A theoretical study of toroidal membranes with various degrees of intrinsic orientational order is presented at mean-field level. The study uses a simple Ginzburg-Landau style free energy functional, which gives rise to a rich variety of…