Related papers: 'Setting things straight' by twisting and bending?
Photo-polymerization of a reactive mesogen mixed with a mesogenic dimer, shown to exhibit the twist-bend nematic phase ($N_{TB}$), reveals the complex structure of the self-deformation patterns observed in planar cells. The polymerized…
Most, but not all, liquid crystals tend to align when subject to shear flow, while most nematic polymeric liquid crystals undergo a tumbling instability, where the director rotate with the flow. The reasons of this instability remain…
This paper explores different photo-bending shapes in polydomain nematic glass. The motivation is to explain the phenomenon in experiment [1] under polarized light in which a nematic film curls into an circular arc, like part of a…
The ground state of twist-bend nematic liquid crystals is a heliconical molecular arrangement in which the nematic director precesses uniformly about an axis, making a fixed angle with it. Both precession senses are allowed in the ground…
We consider a phenomenological continuum theory for an extensile, overdamped active nematic liquid crystal, applicable in the dense regime. Constructed from general principles, the theory is universal, with parameters independent of any…
While twist-bend nematic phases have been extensively studied, the experimental observation of two dimensional, oscillating splay-bend phases is recent. We consider two theoretical models that have been used to explain the formation of…
Only a few years have passed since discovery of polar nematics, and now they are becoming the most actively studied liquid crystal materials. Despite numerous breakthrough findings made recently, a theoretical systematization is still…
Nematics with a broken polar symmetry is one of the fascinating recent discoveries in the field of soft matter. High spontaneous polarisation and the fluidity of the ferroelectric nematic $N_{\mathrm{F}}$ phase make such materials…
In this work we start with an introductory review of the relatively recently discovered type of liquid crystals, twist-bend nematics N_{TB}. Then we describe a more detailed account of recent developments in the field. Namely: (i) Landau…
Monte Carlo molecular simulations of curve-shaped rods show the propensity of such shapes to polymorphism revealing both smectic and polar nematic phases. The nematic exhibits a nanoscale modulated local structure characterized by a unique,…
We once more specify an universality of a phase transition from smectic-A to nematic phase in the crosslinked polymer network with a smectic liquid crystal, basing on the X-ray and $^1H$-NMR spectroscopy experiments. Comparing the…
A new point of view about the deep origin of thermodynamic phase transitions is sketched. The main idea is to link the appearance of phase transitions to some major topology change of suitable submanifolds of phase space instead of linking…
Liquid crystal materials exhibiting up to three nematic phases are reported. Dielectric response measurements show that while the lower temperature nematic phase has ferroelectric order and the highest temperature nematic phase is apolar,…
The recent discovery of a new ferroelectric nematic (NF) liquid crystalline phase became of utmost interest for the liquid crystal (LC) and the whole soft and condensed matter fields. Contrary to the previously known ferroelectric LC…
The potential of mean torque governing the orientational ordering of prochiral solutes in the two nematic phases (N and Nx) formed by certain classes of symmetric achiral bimesogens is formulated and used for the analysis of existing NMR…
Recent theoretical research has developed a general framework to understand director deformations and modulated phases in nematic liquid crystals. In this framework, there are four fundamental director deformation modes: twist, bend, splay,…
We have numerically studied a liquid composed of achiral, bent-shaped molecules built of tangent spheres. The system is known to spontaneously break mirror symmetry, as it forms a macroscopically chiral, twist-bend nematic phase [Phys. Rev.…
We show that development of polar order may spontaneously destroy the lamellar structure of a liquid crystal. This results in an unusual sequence of phases with the ferroelectric nematic phase appearing below a non-polar smectic phase. The…
Previous studies on the generalized XY model have concentrated on the equilibrium phase diagram and the equilibrium nature of distinct phases under varying parameter conditions. We direct our attention towards examining the systems…
Nematic phases, breaking spontaneously rotational symmetry, provide for ubiquitously observed states of matter in both classical and quantum systems. These nematic states may be further classified by their $N$--fold rotational invariance…