Related papers: Annihilation trajectory of defects in smectic-C fi…
Nontrivial shape of colloidal particles create complex elastic distortions and topological defects in liquid crystals and play a key role in governing their electrophoretic propulsion through the medium. Here, we report experimental results…
We consider a second order thin curved film whose behavior is governed by an energy made up of a first order nonlinear part depending on the gradient of the deformation augmented by a quadratic second order part depending on the tensor of…
An unresolved issue in the theory of liquid crystals is the molecular basis of the electroclinic effect in the smectic-A phase. Recent x-ray scattering experiments suggest that, in a class of siloxane-containing liquid crystals, an electric…
We introduce a characterization of disclination lines in three dimensional nematic liquid crystals as a tensor quantity related to the so called rotation vector around the line. This quantity is expressed in terms of the nematic tensor…
Topological defects (TDs) are crucial for understanding important physical properties of crystalline materials including mechanical failure, ion transport, and two-dimensional melting. This concept has not translated to disordered materials…
A new theory of hydrodynamics of uniaxial nematic liquid crystal films in the presence of defects is developed. A gauge field incorporating screening is introduced, resulting in the static elastic free energy having the form of a…
We report results of large-scale molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations of dynamic deformation under biaxial tensile strain of pre-strained single-crystalline nanometer-scale-thick face-centered cubic (fcc) copper films. Our results show that…
Rapid solidification leads to unique microstructural features, where a less studied topic is the formation of various crystalline defects, including high dislocation densities, as well as gradients and splitting of the crystalline…
Understanding the fundamental mechanisms behind plastic instabilities and shear band formation in amorphous media under applied deformation remains a long-standing challenge. Leveraging on the mathematical concept of topology, we revisit…
The retraction of thin films, as described by the Taylor-Culick (TC) theory, is subject to widespread debate, particularly for films at the nanoscale. We use non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to explore the validity of the…
The homotopy theory of topological defects in ordered media fails to completely characterize systems with broken translational symmetry. We argue that the problem can be understood in terms of the lack of rotational Goldstone modes in such…
Tunneling of two particles in synchronous and asynchronous regimes is studied in the framework of dissipative quantum tunneling. The critical temperature T_c corresponding to a bifurcation of the underbarrier trajectory is determined. The…
Confined samples of liquid crystals are characterized by a variety of topological defects and can be exposed to external constraints such as extreme confinements with nontrivial topology. Here we explore the intrinsic structure of smectic…
We consider two stacked ultra-thin layers of different liquids on a solid substrate. Using long-wave theory, we derive coupled evolution equations for the free liquid-liquid and liquid-gas interfaces. Linear and non-linear analyses show…
We theoretically analyze diffusion trajectories of an anisotropic object moving on a two dimensional space in the absence of an external field. In determining diffusion parameters associated with the shape anisotropy, we devise a measure…
We study dynamical processes in a multi-domain (MD) structured nematic liquid crystal cell with a particular emphasis on the motion, creation and annihilation of disclinations. In the MD cell right- and left-handed director helices…
We develop a theory for fluctuations and correlations in a gas evolving under ballistic annihilation dynamics. Starting from the hierarchy of equations governing the evolution of microscopic densities in phase space, we subsequently…
We review recent experiments on dewetting thin films of evaporating colloidal nanoparticle suspensions (nanofluids) and discuss several theoretical approaches to describe the ongoing processes including coupled transport and phase changes.…
Recent numerical simulations of lid-driven cavity flow of a nematic liquid crystal have found dynamical behavior where topological defects rotate about the center of the fluid vortex induced by the lid motion. By considering a simpler…
We consider the propagation of light in a anisotropic medium with a topological line defect in the realm of geometrical optics. It is shown that the effective geometry perceived by light propagating in such medium is that of a spacial…