Related papers: 'Setting things straight' by twisting and bending?
Even though chiral nematic phases were the first liquid crystals experimentally observed more than a century ago, the origin of the thermodynamic stability of cholesteric states is still unclear. In this Letter we address the problem by…
The twist-bend nematic liquid crystal phase is a three-dimensional fluid in which achiral bent molecules spontaneously form an orientationally ordered macroscopically chiral heliconical winding of molecular scale pitch, in absence of…
We introduce the theoretical framework we use to study the bewildering variety of phases in condensed--matter physics. We emphasize the importance of the breaking of symmetries, and develop the idea of an order parameter through several…
We use the Parsons Lee modification of Onsagers second virial theory within the restricted orientation approximation to analyse the phase behaviour of hard cylindrical rods confined in narrow pores Depending on the wall to wall separation…
Correlated electron fluids can exhibit a startling array of complex phases, among which one of the more surprising is the electron nematic, a translationally invariant metallic phase with a spontaneously generated spatial anisotropy.…
Strong electron interactions can drive metallic systems toward a variety of well-known symmetry-broken phases, but the instabilities of correlated metals with strong spin-orbit coupling have only recently begun to be explored. We uncovered…
How change in molecular structure can affect relative stability and structural properties of the twist-bend nematic phase (N$_\text{TB}$)? Here we extend the mean-field model [C. Greco et al., Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 9318] for bent-shaped…
Polar nematic liquid crystals are new classes of condensed-matter states where the inversion symmetry common to the traditional apolar nematics is broken. Establishing theoretical descriptions for the novel phase states is an urgent task.…
During the last half-decade, a new class of ferroic-fluid, ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals (NFLCs), creates a noise owing to its exceptional properties such as a colossal polarization, high electro-optic activity plus high fluidity.…
We give an overview of recent developments in the theory of dimer models. The viewpoint we take is inspired by mirror symmetry. After an introduction to the combinatorics of dimer models, we will first look at dimers in dynamical systems…
A spontaneous buckling transition in thin layers of monodomain nematic liquid crystalline gel was observed by polarized light microscopy. The coupling between the orientational ordering of liquid crystalline solvent and the translational…
We describe the geometry of bend distortions in twist-bend nematic liquid crystals in terms of their fundamental degeneracies, which we call $\beta$ lines. These represent a new class of line-like topological defect. We use them to…
We derive stability conditions of Asymmetric Nuclear Matter ($ANM$) and discuss the relation to mechanical and chemical instabilities of general two-component systems. We show that the chemical instability may appear as an instability of…
In this contribution we discuss the role which incoherent boundary conditions can play in the study of phase transitions. This is a question of particular relevance for the analysis of disordered systems, and in particular of spin glasses.…
Single crystal nematic elastomers undergo a transition from a strongly ordered phase N to an "isotropic" phase I. We show that: (a) samples produced under tension by the Finkelmann procedure are intrinsically anisotropic and should show a…
We respond to S.-K. Yip's criticism of our work on the classification of spinor condensates. We explain why his criticism is unfounded, emphasizing that the phases he mentions have been addressed in our paper cond-mat/0611230. To provide a…
A newly predicted state of matter is a simple theoretical example of a phase that conducts electricity but is not smoothly connected to our conventional model of metals. A viewpoint on arXiv:1201.5998.
The concept of a disordered Fermi-liquid fixed point is introduced and used to understand various properties of disordered metals within a unifying framework. Corrections to scaling near this fixed point give what are commonly called…
Ferromagnetic Ising systems with competing interactions are considered in the presence of a random field. We find that in three space dimensions the ferromagnetic phase is disordered by a random field which is considerably smaller than the…
Thanks to a new derivation of the fundamental equations governing multimode dynamics for a semiconductor laser near its threshold, we identify regimes of existence of a pure phase instability (and of a mixed phase-amplitude turbulence…