Related papers: Director alignment at the nematic-isotropic interf…
Engineering synthetic materials that mimic the remarkable complexity of living organisms is a fundamental challenge in science and technology. We study the spatiotemporal patterns that emerge when an active nematicfilm of microtubules and…
Nematic liquid crystals exhibit both crystal-like and fluid-like features. In particular, the propagation of an acoustic wave shows an unexpected occurrence of some of the solid-like features at the hydrodynamic level, namely, the…
We study the low-frequency, long-wavelength dynamics of soft and semi-soft nematic elastomers using two different but related dynamic theories. Our first formulation describes the pure hydrodynamic behavior of nematic elastomers in which…
We investigate the effects of electric double layers and flexoelectricity on the surface anchoring in general nematic fluids. Within a simplified model, we demonstrate for a nematic electrolyte how the surface anchoring strength can be…
Achieving control and tunability of lyotropic materials has been a long-standing goal of liquid crystal research. Here we show that the elasticity of a liquid crystal system consisting of a dense suspension of semiflexible biopolymers can…
Compared to isotropic liquids, orientational order of nematic liquid crystals makes their rheological properties more involved, and thus requires fine control of the flow parameters to govern the orientational patterns. In microfluidic…
Despite the fact that quantitative experimental data have been available for more than forty years now, nematoacoustics still poses intriguing theoretical and experimental problems. In this paper, we prove that the main observed features of…
Using the Lebwohl-Lasher interaction for reciprocal local alignment, we present a comprehensive phase diagram for a dry, apolar, active nematic system using its stochastic \new{off-lattice} dynamics. \new{The nematic-isotropic transition in…
Topological defects are at the root of the large-scale organization of liquid crystals. In two-dimensional active nematics, two classes of topological defects of charges $\pm 1/2$ are known to play a major role due to active stresses.…
We present the first calculations of the pressure tensor profile in the vicinity of the planar interface between isotropic liquid and nematic liquid crystal, using Onsager's density functional theory and computer simulation. When the liquid…
The mechanism behind the nematicity of FeSe is not known. Through elastoresitivity measurements it has been shown to be an electronic instability. However, so far measurements have extended only to small strains, where the response is…
Defect dynamics in a thin active nematic layer is studied by asymptotic matching of solutions in the defect core and the far field. The analysis is facilitated by the correspondence between the 2D nematic and complex scalar field models.…
A new phase field model of microstructural evolution is presented that includes the effects of elastic strain energy. The model's thin interface behavior is investigated by mapping it onto a recent model developed by Echebarria et al (Phys…
An elastic membrane with embedded nematic molecules is considered as a model of anisotropic fluid membrane with internal ordering. By considering the geometric coupling between director field and membrane curvature, the nematic texture is…
Linear defects such as dislocations and disclinations in ordered materials attract foreign particles since they replace strong elastic distortions at the defect cores. In this work, we explore the behavior of isotropic droplets nucleating…
A Self Consistent Field Theory description of equilibrium, but non uniform, configurations adopted by semi flexible liquid crystal molecules is presented. Two cases are considered, isotropic-nematic phase boundaries, and topological defects…
Cell crawling crucially depends on the collective dynamics of the acto-myosin cytoskeleton. However, it remains an open question to what extent cell polarization and persistent motion depend on continuous regulatory mechanisms and…
Models of active nematics in biological systems normally require complexity arising from the hydrodynamics involved at the microscopic level as well as the viscoelastic nature of the system. Here we show that a minimal, space-independent,…
Patterned surfaces with large effective slip lengths, such as super-hydrophobic surfaces containing trapped gas bubbles, have the potential to greatly enhance electrokinetic phenomena. Existing theories assume either homogeneous flat…
We use a continuum, two-fluid approach to study a mixture of two active nematic fluids. Even in the absence of thermodynamically-driven ordering, for mixtures of different activities we observe turbulent microphase separation, where domains…