Related papers: Dielectrowetting of a thin nematic liquid crystal …
A theoretical analysis of homeotropic alignment induced by nanoparticles (NPs) in a nematic liquid crystal (NLC) sample cell is presented. It is found that such alignment on the surface of a NP causes a change in the orientation of the…
The theory of elastic interaction of micron size axially symmetric colloidal particles immersed into confined nematic liquid crystal has been proposed. General formulas are obtained for the self energy of one colloidal particle and…
We investigate a number of complex patterns driven by the electro-convection instability in a planarly aligned layer of a nematic liquid crystal. They are traced back to various secondary instabilities of the ideal roll patterns bifurcating…
The hydrodynamic phase field model is applied to the problem of film spreading on a solid surface. The disjoining potential, responsible for modification of the fluid properties near a three-phase contact line, is computed from the…
We study the equilibrium configuration of a nematic liquid crystal bounded by a rough surface. The wrinkling of the surface induces a partial melting in the degree of orientation. This softened region penetrates the bulk up to a length…
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…
The instability, dynamics and morphological transitions of patterns in thin liquid films on periodic striped surfaces (consisting of alternating less and more wettable stripes) are investigated based on 3-D nonlinear simulations that…
We examine the profile of a liquid front of a film that is dewetting a solid substrate. Since volume is conserved, the material that once covered the substrate is accumulated in a rim close to the three phase contact line. Theoretically,…
The dielectric nature of polar liquids underpins much of their ability to act as useful solvents, but its description is complicated by the long-ranged nature of dipolar interactions. This is particularly pronounced under the periodic…
Using classical density functional theory (DFT) the effect of bringing a liquid crystal (LC) into contact with a porous substrate or matrix is investigated. The DFT used is a combination of the Onsager approximation to evaluate the excess…
We find solutions that describe the levelling of a thin fluid film, comprising a non-Newtonian power-law fluid, that coats a substrate and evolves under the influence of surface tension. We consider the evolution from both periodic and…
In culture migrating and interacting amoeboid cells can form nematic liquid crystal phases. A polar nematic liquid crystal is formed if the interaction has a polar symmetry. One type of white blood cells (granulocytes) form clusters where…
We examine the dynamics of a thin film formed by a distributed liquid source on a vertical solid wall. The model is derived using the lubrication approximation and includes the effects of gravity, upward airflow and surface tension. When…
Controlling the spatial distribution of liquid droplets on surfaces via surface energy patterning can be used to control material delivery to specified regions via selective liquid/solid wetting. While studies of the equilibrium shape of…
The newly-discovered ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal exhibits a variety of unique defect phenomena. The depolarization field in the material favors spontaneous spatial variations in polarization, manifesting in diverse forms such as…
Thin-film flows of viscoelastic fluids are encountered in various industrial and biological settings. The understanding of thin viscous film flows in Newtonian fluids is very well developed, which for a large part is due to the so-called…
It has been experimentally observed that weakly conducting suspended films of smectic liquid crystals undergo electroconvection when subjected to a large enough potential difference. The resulting counter-rotating vortices form a very…
Study of electrokinetics of nematic liquid crystals (LCs) with dissolved impurities hold utmost importance in understanding director distribution characteristics and modified flow rheology. However, no concrete theory for the non-uniform…
We show that the motion of ferroelectric liquid sessile droplets deposited on a ferroelectric lithium niobate substrate can be controlled by a light beam of moderate intensity irradiating the substrate at a distance of several droplet…
We analyze theoretically the influence of backward propagating waves on the primary threshold when a linearly polarized light impinges at normal incidence on a planarly aligned nematic liquid crystal films. We show, that the primary…