Related papers: Structural Landscapes in Geometrically Frustrated …
Using the density functional formalism we derive expression for the distortion free energy for systems with continuous broken symmetry and use it to derive expression for the elastic constants of smectic phases in which director is tilted…
Semiflexible polymers in concentrated lyotropic solution are studied within a bead-spring model by molecular dynamics simulations, focusing on the emergence of a smectic A phase and its properties. We systematically vary the density of the…
We propose a general formalism to characterize orientational frustration of smectic liquid crystals in confinement by interpreting the emerging networks of grain boundaries as objects with a topological charge. In a formal idealization,…
Ordered phases on curved substrates experience a complex interplay of ordering and intrinsic curvature, commonly producing frustration and singularities. This is an especially important issue in crystals as ever-smaller scale materials are…
We report on a construction for smectic blue phases, which have quasi-long range smectic translational order as well as three dimensional crystalline order. Our proposed structures fill space by adding layers on top of a minimal surface,…
The thermodynamic and kinetic anomalies of supercooled liquids are analyzed from the perspective of energy landscapes. A mean field model, a generalized random energy model of liquids is developed, which exhibits a dynamical transition of…
A modified phase field crystal model in which the free energy may be minimised by an order parameter profile having isolated bumps is investigated. The phase diagram is calculated in one and two dimensions and we locate the regions where…
Free energy landscapes provide insights into conformational ensembles of biomolecules. In order to analyze these landscapes and elucidate mechanisms underlying conformational changes, there is a need to extract metastable states with…
Elastic theory of ring-(or cylinder-)shaped crystals is constructed and the generation of edge dislocations due to geometrical frustration caused by the bending is studied. The analogy to superconducting (or superfluid) vortex state is…
The expression of the free energy of a liquid in terms of an explicit decomposition of the particle configurations into local coordination clusters is examined. We argue that the major contribution to the entropy associated with structural…
Cholesteric liquid crystals experience geometric frustration when they are confined between surfaces with anchoring conditions that are incompatible with the cholesteric twist. Because of this frustration, they develop complex topological…
Based on simplifications of previous numerical calculations [Graf and L\"{o}wen, Phys. Rev. E \textbf{59}, 1932 (1999)], we propose algebraic free energy expressions for the smectic-A liquid crystal phase and the crystal phases of hard…
Using the classical density functional theory of freezing and Monte Carlo computer simulations, we explore the liquid-crystalline phase behavior of hard rectangles on flat and cylindrical manifolds. Moreover, we study the effect of a static…
Smectic liquid crystals are remarkable, beautiful examples of materials microstructure, with ordered patterns of geometrically perfect ellipses and hyperbolas. The solution of the complex problem of filling three-dimensional space with…
Stochastic hydrodynamics is a central tool in the study of first order phase transitions at a fundamental level. Combined with sophisticated free energy models, e.g. as developed in classical Density Functional Theory, complex processes…
We show that "dry" active nematics, e.g. collections of shaken elongated granular particles, exhibit large-scale spatiotemporal chaos made of interacting dense, ordered, band-like structures in a parameter region including the linear onset…
A diffuse-interface model for microstructure with an arbitrary number of components and phases was developed from basic thermodynamic and kinetic principles and formalized within a variational framework. The model includes a composition…
Twist-grain-boundary phases in smectics are the geometrical analogs of the Abrikosov flux lattice in superconductors. At large twist angles, the nonlinear elasticity is important in evaluating their energetics. We analytically construct the…
We present a model for smectic elastomer membranes which includes elastic and liquid crystalline degrees of freedom. Based on our model, we determined the qualitative phase diagram of a smectic elastomer membrane using mean-field theory.…
The persistent dynamics in systems out of equilibrium, particularly those characterized by annihilation and creation of topological defects, is known to involve complicated spatiotemporal processes and is deemed difficult to control. Here…