Related papers: Interactions of charged microrods in chiral nemati…
The hydrodynamic stresses created by active particles can destabilise orientational order present in the system. This is manifested, for example, by the appearance of a bend instability in active nematics or in quasi-2-dimensional living…
We theoretically investigate the threshold for the director reorientation from the homeotropic state to the hybrid homeotropic-planar state and vice versa in a cell filled with a flexoelectric nematic liquid crystal (NLC) subjected to an…
The optical birefringence of rod-like nematogens (7CB, 8CB), imbibed in parallel silica channels with 10 nm diameter and 300 micrometer length, is measured and compared to the thermotropic bulk behavior. The orientational order of the…
We show that the elastic charge of colloids in a nematic liquid crystal can be generated by the vector of external torque. The torque components play the role of two component charge (dyad) and give rise to the Coulomb-like potential, while…
Optical birefringence measurements on a rod-like liquid crystal (8OCB), imbibed in silica channels (7 nm diameter), are presented and compared to the thermotropic bulk behavior. The orientational and positional order of the confined liquid…
We study the interplay between charge and spin ordering in electronic liquid crystalline states with a particular emphasis on fluctuating spin stripe phenomena observed in recent neutron scattering experiments\cite{Hinkov2008, Haug2009}.…
We consider a microscopic field theoretical approach for interacting active nematic particles. With only steric interactions the self-propulsion strength in such systems can lead to different collective behaviour, e.g., synchronized…
Active liquid crystals or active gels are soft materials which can be physically realised e.g. by preparing a solution of cytoskeletal filaments interacting with molecular motors. We study the hydrodynamics of an active liquid crystal in a…
Hydrodynamic behavior at the vicinity of a confining wall is closely related to the friction properties of the liquid/solid interface. Here we consider, using Molecular Dynamics simulations, the electric contribution to friction for charged…
Monopole-like electrostatic interactions are ubiquitous in biology and condensed matter, but they are often screened by counter-ions and cannot be switched from attractive to repulsive. In colloidal science, where the prime goal is to…
Bound states in the continuum (BICs), which are confined optical modes exhibiting infinite quality factors and carrying topological polarization configurations in momentum space, have recently sparked significant interest across both…
I describe new phases of a chiral liquid crystal with nematic and hexatic order. I find a conical phase, similar to that of a cholesteric in an applied magnetic field for Frank elastic constants $K_2>K_3$. I discuss the role of fluctuations…
The geometric shape, symmetry, and topology of colloidal particles often allow for controlling colloidal phase behavior and physical properties of these soft matter systems. In liquid crystalline dispersions, colloidal particles with low…
One of the promising platforms for creating Majorana bound states is a hybrid nanostructure consisting of a semiconducting nanowire covered by a superconductor. We analyze the previously disregarded role of electrostatic interaction in…
We propose the first Skyrmion Spin Ice, realized via confined, interacting liquid crystal skyrmions. Skyrmions in a chiral nematic liquid crystal behave as quasi-particles that can be dynamically confined, bound, and created or annihilated…
The surface alignment of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) can be not only planar (tangential) but also homeotropic, with self-assembled aggregates perpendicular to the substrate, as demonstrated by mapping optical retardation and…
We study the layer-to-layer diffusion in smectic-A liquid crystals of colloidal hard rods with different length-to-diameter ratios using computer simulations. The layered arrangement of the smectic phase yields a hopping-type diffusion due…
Spin liquid crystals are magnetic analogs of liquid crystals, possessing properties of both liquids and solids, a typical example of which are spin nematics. Spin nematics share many features with spin liquids, and the interplay between…
Disorder in materials may be used to tune their functionalities, but much more strikingly, its presence can entail entirely new behavior. This happens in charge-ice where structural disorder is not weak and local, but strong and long-range…
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…