Related papers: Smectic Layering: Landau theory for a complex-tens…
Smectic materials represent a unique state between fluids and solids, characterized by orientational and partial positional order, making them notoriously difficult to model, particularly in confining geometries. We propose a complex order…
We identify problems with the standard complex order parameter formalism for smectic-A (SmA) liquid crystals, and discuss possible alternative descriptions of smectic order. In particular, we suggest an approach based on the real smectic…
We propose a continuum tensorial model for chiral smectic C (SmC$^*$) liquid crystals using a tensor-valued order parameter $\mathbf{Q}$ to describe orientational order and a real-valued order parameter $\delta\rho$ to capture layer…
We mathematically model Smectic-A (SmA) phases with a modified Landau-de Gennes (mLdG) model. The orientational order of the SmA phase is described by a tensor-order parameter $\mathbf{Q}$, and the positional order is described by a real…
Surface-induced profiles of both nematic and smectic order parameters in a nematic liquid crystal, ranging from an orienting substrate to "infinity", were evaluated numerically on base of an extended Landau theory. In order to obtain a…
Smectic liquid crystals are materials formed by stacking deformable, fluid layers. Though smectics prefer to have flat, uniformly-spaced layers, boundary conditions can impose curvature on the layers. Since the layer spacing and curvature…
Liquid crystals can self-organize into a layered smectic phase. While the smectic layers are typically straight forming a lamellar pattern in bulk, external confinement may drastically distort the layers due to the boundary conditions…
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…
Motivated by the experimentally observed shear-induced destabilization and reorientation of smectic A like systems, we consider an extended formulation of smectic A hydrodynamics. We include both, the smectic layering (via the layer…
We study nematic liquid crystal configurations in confined geometries within the continuum Landau--De Gennes theory. These nematic configurations are mathematically described by symmetric, traceless two-tensor fields, known as…
A flux liquid can condense into a smectic crystal in a pure layered superconductors with the magnetic field oriented nearly parallel to the layers. If the smectic order is commensurate with the layering, this crystal is {\sl stable} to…
The Landau-de Gennes model of liquid crystals is a functional acting on wave functions (order parameters) and vector fields (director fields). In a specific asymptotic limit of the physical parameters, we construct critical points such that…
The smectic C (smC) phase represents a unique class of liquid crystal phases characterised by the layered arrangement of molecules with tilted orientations with respect to layer normals. Building upon the real-valued tensorial smectic A…
Extensions of a previously presented Landau-de Gennes type liquid crystalline phase transition model for the direct isotropic/smectic-A (lamellar) a phase transition to the direct isotropic/smectic-C (tilted lamellar) transition are…
Grain boundaries in extremely confined colloidal smectics possess a topological fine structure with coexisting nematic and tetratic symmetry of the director field. An alternative way to approach the problem of smectic topology is via the…
In the Landau-de Gennes theoretical framework of a $Q -tensor description of nematic liquid crystals, we consider a radial hedgehog defect with strong anchoring conditions in a ball $B \subset \mathbb{R}^3$ . We show that the scalar order…
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…
Smectic liquid crystals are charcterized by layers that have a preferred uniform spacing and vanishing curvature in their ground state. Dislocations in the smectics play an important role in phase nucleation, layer reorientation, and…
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,…
Uniaxial nematic liquid crystals whose molecular orientation is subjected to a tangential anchoring on a curved surface offer a non trivial interplay between the geometry and the topology of the surface and the orientational degree of…