Related papers: Liquid crystal director fields in three-dimensiona…
Nematic elastomers and glasses deform spontaneously when subjected to temperature changes. This property can be exploited in the design of heterogeneously patterned thin sheets that deform into a non-trivial shape when heated or cooled. In…
We investigate the switching dynamics of multistable nematic liquid crystal devices. In particular we identify a remarkably simple 2-dimensional (2D) device which exploits hybrid alignment at the surfaces to yield a bistable response. We…
Recent experimental observations have suggested that topological defects can facilitate the creation of sharp features in developing embryos. Whereas these observations echo established knowledge about the interplay between geometry and…
Using experiments and numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the curvature of microscale conduits allow programming of liquid crystal (LC) flows. Focusing on a nematic LC flowing through U- and L-shaped channels of rectangular…
The geometry and interactions between the constituents of a liquid crystal, which are responsible for inducing the partial order in the fluid, may locally favor an attempted phase that could not be realized in $\mathbb{R}^3$. While states…
We present a theoretical study of the director fields and energetics of nematic liquid crystal shells with two pairs of surface defects. The pairs of defects can undergo abrupt transitions between a configuration of maximum separation to at…
Understanding and controlling the director field configuration, shape, and orientation in nematic and cholesteric liquid crystals is of fundamental importance in several branches of science. Liquid crystalline droplets, also known as…
Thin nematic elastomers, composite hydrogels and plant tissues are among many systems that display uniform anisotropic deformation upon external actuation. In these materials, the spatial orientation variation of a local director field…
We present a hydrodynamic model for a thin spherical shell of active nematic liquid crystal with an arbitrary configuration of defects. The active flows generated by defects in the director lead to the formation of stable vortices,…
Integer winding disclinations are unstable in a nematic and are removed by an `escape into the third dimension', resulting in a non-singular texture. This process is frustrated in a cholesteric material due to the requirement of maintaining…
In this experimental and theoretical study, we examine the equilibrium shapes of quasitwo-dimensional twist-bend nematic (Ntb) drops formed within a planarly aligned nematic layer of the liquid crystal CB7CB. Initially, at the setting point…
Topological defects are a universal concept across many disciplines, such as crystallography, liquid-crystalline physics, low-temperature physics, cosmology, and even biology. In nematic liquid crystals, topological defects called…
Patterns forming spontaneously in extended, three-dimensional, dissipative systems are likely to excite several homogeneous soft modes ($\approx$ hydrodynamic modes) of the underlying physical system, much more than quasi one- and…
The classical theory of liquid crystal elasticity as formulated by Oseen and Frank describes the (orientable) optic axis of these soft materials by a director $\mathbf{n}$. The ground state is attained when $\mathbf{n}$ is uniform in space;…
Disclinations are ubiquitous lattice defects existing in almost all crystalline materials. In two-dimensional nanomaterials, disclinations lead to the warping and deformation of the hosting material, yielding non-Euclidean geometries.…
We model within the framework of finite elasticity two inherent instabilities observed in liquid crystal elastomers under uniaxial tension. First is necking which occurs when a material sample suddenly elongates more in a small region where…
Within the Landau-de Gennes theory of liquid crystals, we study theoretically the equilibrium configurations with uniaxial symmetry. We show that the uniaxial symmetry constraint is very restrictive and can in general not be satisfied,…
We generalize the shape optimization problem for the existence of stable equilibrium configurations of nematic and cholesteric liquid crystal drops surrounded by an isotropic solution to include a broader family of admissible domains with…
Topological defects are a ubiquitous phenomenon in diverse physical systems. In nematic liquid crystals (LCs), they are dynamic, physicochemically distinct, sensitive to stimuli, and are thereby promising for a range of applications.…
In this paper, we consider the short time strong solution to a simplified hydrodynamic flow modeling the compressible, nematic liquid crystal materials in dimension three. We establish a criterion for possible breakdown of such solutions at…