Related papers: Defect-induced electronic smectic state at the sur…
Electronically driven nematic order is often considered as an essential ingredient of high-temperature superconductivity. Its elusive nature in iron-based supercon- ductors resulted in a controversy not only as regards its origin but also…
Electronic nematic phases have been proposed to occur in various correlated electron systems and were recently claimed to have been detected in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) conductance maps of the pseudogap states of the cuprate…
In the prevalent picture of ultrafast structural phase transitions, the atomic motion occurs in a slowly varying potential energy surface determined adiabatically by the fast electrons. However, this ignores non-conservative forces caused…
We present in this paper a detailed analysis of the flexoelectric instability of a planar nematic layer in the presence of an alternating electric field (frequency $\omega$), which leads to stripe patterns (flexodomains) in the plane of the…
We consider a phenomenological continuum theory for an extensile, overdamped active nematic liquid crystal, applicable in the dense regime. Constructed from general principles, the theory is universal, with parameters independent of any…
We propose that impurity-induced electronic nematic state is realized above the orthorhombic structure transition temperature $T_S$ in iron-pnictide superconductors. In the presence of strong orbital fluctuations near $T_S$, it is…
In several families of iron-based superconducting materials, a d-wave pairing instability may compete with the leading s-wave instability. Here we show that when both states have comparable free energies, superconducting and nematic degrees…
The presence of nonmagnetic impurities in a 2D ``bad metal'' depresses the superconducting Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature, while leaving the pairing energy scale unchanged. Thus the region of the pseudogap…
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…
Topological defects are distinctive signatures of liquid crystals. They profoundly affect the viscoelastic behavior of the fluid by constraining the orientational structure in a way that inevitably requires global changes not achievable…
Using particle-resolved molecular-dynamics simulations, we compute the phase diagram for soft repulsive spherocylinders confined on the surface of a sphere. While crystal (K), smectic (Sm), and isotropic (I) phases exhibit a stability…
Within the Landau paradigm of continuous phase transitions, ordered states of matter are characterized by a broken symmetry. Although the broken symmetry is usually evident, determining the driving force behind the phase transition is often…
We explore the possibility that the large electroclinic effect observed in ferroelectric liquid crystals arises from the presence of an ordered array of disclination lines and walls. If the spacing of these defects is in the subvisible…
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…
Liquid crystals have attracted enormous interest because of the variety of their phases and richness of their application. The interplay of general physical symmetries and specific molecular features generates a myriad of different…
Surface-states of topological insulators are assumed to be robust against non-magnetic defects in the crystal. However, recent theoretical models and experiments indicate that even non-magnetic defects can perturb these states. Our…
What characterises a solid is its way to respond to external stresses. Ordered solids, such crystals, display an elastic regime followed by a plastic one, both well understood microscopically in terms of lattice distortion and dislocations.…
We study smectic-liquid-crystal order in a cell with a heterogeneous substrate imposing surface random positional and orientational pinnings. Proposing a minimal random elastic model, we demonstrate that, for a thick cell, the smectic state…
Electronic nematic order is a correlated phase of matter in which low-energy electronic states spontaneously break a discrete rotational symmetry of a crystal lattice. Bilinear coupling between the electronic nematic and strains of the same…
The temperature dependence of the number density of elementary excitations in a semiconductor with account for the temperature dependence of the band gap is obtained. A local lattice distortion within a crystalline domain is discussed.