Related papers: Smectic Layering: Landau theory for a complex-tens…
Ginzburg-Landau model with two order parameters appears in many condensed-matter problems. However, even for scalar order parameters, the most general U(1)-symmetric Landau potential with all quadratic and quartic terms contains 13…
Physical systems are frequently modeled as sets of points in space, each representing the position of an atom, molecule, or mesoscale particle. As many properties of such systems depend on the underlying ordering of their constituent…
How condensed-matter simulations depend on the number of molecules being simulated ($N$) is sometimes itself a valuable piece of information. Liquid crystals provide a case in point. Light scattering and $2d$-IR experiments on…
We present large scale computer simulations of the nonlinear bulk rheology of lamellar phases (smectic liquid crystals) at moderate to large values of the shear rate (Peclet numbers 10-100), in both two and three dimensions. In two…
Many molecular theories of nematic liquid crystals consider the constituent molecules as cylindrically symmetric. In many cases, this approximation may be useful. However the molecules of real nematics have lower symmetry. Therefore a…
Rod-like objects at high packing fractions can form smectic phases, where the rods break rotational and translational symmetry by forming lamellae. Smectic defects thereby include both discontinuities in the rod orientational order…
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 structural properties of dense random packings of identical hard spheres (HS) are investigated. The bond order parameter method is used to obtain detailed information on the local structural properties of the system for different…
In this work, we present three linear numerical schemes to model nematic liquid crystals using the Landau-de Gennes $\textbf{Q}$-tensor theory. The first scheme is based on using a truncation procedure of the energy, which allows for an…
This review introduces the elasticity theory of two-dimensional crystals and nematic liquid crystals on curved surfaces, the energetics of topological defects (disclinations, dislocations and pleats) in these ordered phases, and the…
We study the organization of topological defects in a system of nematogens confined to the two-dimensional sphere (S^2). We first perform Monte Carlo simulations of a fluid system of hard rods (spherocylinders) living in the tangent plane…
Chromonic liquid crystals (CLCs) are lyotropic materials which are attracting growing interest for their adaptability to living systems. A considerable body of works has been devoted to exploring their properties and applications. In this…
Machine learning algorithms thrive on large data sets of good quality. Here we show that they can also excel in a typical research setting with little data of limited quality, through an interplay of insights coming from machine, and human…
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…
We develop a comprehensive Ginzburg-Landau theory describing triple-Q magnetic orders on hexagonal lattices, focusing on $O(N)$ models with $N=2$ and $N=3$. Through systematic analysis of symmetry-allowed terms in the free energy, we…
We report the observation of a doubly-periodic surface defect-pattern in the liquid crystal 8CB, formed during the nematic--smectic A phase transition. The pattern results from the antagonistic alignment of the 8CB molecules, which is…
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…
Molecular simulations as well as single molecule experiments have been widely analyzed in terms order parameters, the latter representing candidate probes for the relevant degrees of freedom. Notwithstanding this approach is very intuitive,…
The discovery of fluid states of matter with spontaneous bulk polar order is appreciated as a major discovery in the fields of soft matter and liquid crystals. Typically, this manifests as polar order superimposed atop conventional phase…
The Smectic-A (SmA) phase is modeled by a modified Landau-de Gennes (mLdG) model proposed by Xia et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett., 126 (2021), 177801], in which a tensor order parameter $\mathbf{Q}$ for the orientational order is coupled with a…