Related papers: Topological phase transitions in 2-dimensional ben…
The Lebwohl-Lasher model of uniaxial liquid crystals with (\textit{n} = 3, \textit{d} = 2) was reported earlier to undergo a crossover transition to a novel nematic phase at a temperature $T=T_{n}$. This phase has unbound topological…
Nematic liquid crystals exhibit configurations in which the underlying ordering changes markedly on macroscopic length scales. Such structures include topological defects in the nematic phase and tactoids within nematic-isotropic…
We carry out Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the effect of molecular shape on liquid-crystal order. In our approach, each model mesogen consists of several soft spheres bonded rigidly together. The arrangement of the spheres may be…
The ability to manipulate polar entities with multiple external fields opens exciting possibilities for emerging functionalities and novel applications in spin systems, photonics, metamaterials, and soft matter. Liquid crystals (LCs),…
Liquid crystals formed by acute-angle bent-core (ABC) molecules with a 1,7 naphthalene central core show an intriguing phase behavior with the nematic phase accompanied by poorly understood additional phases. In this work, we characterize…
Motivated by recent experiments, the isotropic-nematic phase transition in chromonic liquid crystals is studied. As temperature decreases, nematic nuclei nucleate, grow, and coalesce, giving rise to tactoid microstructures in an isotropic…
Topological photonics was embarked from realizing the first-order chiral state in gyromagnetic media, but its higher-order states were mostly studied in dielectric lattice instead. In this paper we theoretically unveil a hierarchy of…
The two-component cold atom systems with anisotropic hopping amplitudes can be phenomenologically described by a two-dimensional Ising-XY coupled model with spatial anisotropy. At low temperatures, theoretical predictions [Phys. Rev. A 72,…
The bent-core liquid crystals (LCs) are highly regarded as the next-generation materials for electro-optic devices. The nematic (N) phase of these LCs possesses highly ordered smectic-like cybotactic clusters which are promising in terms of…
Much attention has been devoted to understanding the microscopic pathways of phase transition between two equilibrium condensed phases (such as liquids and solids). However, the microscopic pathways between non-equilibrium, non-diffusive…
We use super-paramagnetic spherical particles which are arranged in a two-dimensional monolayer at a water/air interface to investigate the crystal to liquid phase transition. According to the KTHNY theory a crystal melts in thermal…
Transition out of a topological phase is typically characterized by discontinuous changes in topological invariants along with bulk gap closings. However, as a clean system is geometrically punctured, it is natural to ask the fate of an…
We introduce shape fluctuations in a liquid-crystalline system by considering an elementary Maier--Saupe lattice model for a mixture of uniaxial and biaxial molecules. Shape variables are treated in the annealed (thermalized) limit. We…
Recent experiments report that the long looked for thermotropic biaxial nematic phase has been finally detected in some thermotropic liquid crystalline systems. Inspired by these experimental observations we concentrate on some elementary…
Liquid crystals are phases of matter intermediate between crystals and liquids. Whereas classical liquid crystals have been known for a long time and are used in electro-optical displays, much less is known about their quantum counterparts.…
Nucleation phenomena commonly observed in our every day life are of fundamental, technological and societal importance in many areas, but some of their most intimate mechanisms remain however to be unravelled. Crystal nucleation, the early…
Topological phase transitions challenge conventional paradigms in many-body physics by separating phases that are locally indistinguishable yet globally distinct. Using a quantum simulator of interacting erbium atoms in an optical lattice,…
We investigate a spinless Fermi gas trapped in a honeycomb optical lattice with attractive nearest-neighbor interactions. At zero temperature, mean-field theory predicts three quantum phase transitions, two being topological. At low…
Statistical theory of the dielectric susceptibility of polar liquid crystals is proposed. The molecules are calamitic or bent-core but the permanent dipole moment is perpendicular to the molecule long axis. The ordering of the phase is…
Many physical systems involve two types of orientational order, which are coupled together. For example, ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals have coupled polar and nematic order, and tilted hexatic phases have coupled polar and hexatic…