Related papers: Half-integer Topological Defects Paired via String…
Using computer simulations we investigate the microscopic structure of the singular director field within a nematic droplet. As a theoretical model for nematic liquid crystals we take hard spherocylinders. To induce an overall topological…
Regulation of topological structures and pattern formation is attracting wide interest in the field of condensed matter. Liquid crystals (LCs) represent soft matter with a remarkable combination of fluidity and anisotropic properties.…
Field theories predict that phase transitions sequentially breaking continuous and discrete symmetries can generate hybrid topological structures in which defects of different dimensionalities merge. We report experimental and numerical…
Our study explores the mixture of polar particles in apolar environment. We employ a coarse-grained approach to model the mixture, where polar particles are in minority. The interaction between polar and apolar components is incorporated…
Topological defects are a ubiquitous phenomenon in diverse physical systems. In nematic liquid crystals (LCs), they are dynamic, physicochemically distinct, sensitive to stimuli, and are thereby promising for a range of applications.…
A number of highly polar three ring rod-shaped compounds with a terminal thiophene ring have been synthesized and the physical properties of a subset are reported in detail. On cooling from the isotropic fluid, they directly transition to a…
Nematic colloids exhibit a large diversity of topological defects and structures induced by colloidal particles in the orientationally ordered liquid crystal host fluids. These defects and field configurations define elastic interactions…
Charge profiles in liquid electrolytes are of crucial importance for applications, such as supercapacitors, fuel cells, batteries, or the self-assembly of particles in colloidal or biological settings. However, creating localised (screened)…
Electromagnetic topological insulators have been explored extensively due to the robust edge states they support. In this work, we propose a topological electromagnetic system based on a line defect in topologically nontrivial photonic…
Topological defects are one of the most conspicuous features of liquid crystals. In two dimensional nematics, they have been shown to behave effectively as particles with both, charge and orientation, which dictate their interactions. Here,…
Nontrivial shape of colloidal particles create complex elastic distortions and topological defects in liquid crystals and play a key role in governing their electrophoretic propulsion through the medium. Here, we report experimental results…
A possibility was assessed to modify physico-chemical properties of ferronematic mixtures by introducing additional mesogenic and non-mesogenic components. The mixture, consisting of RM734 and DIO at the 70:30 weight ratio of the…
Topological spin and polar textures have fascinated people in different areas of physics and technologies. However, the observations are limited in magnetic and solid-state ferroelectric systems. Ferroelectric nematic is the first…
The newly-discovered ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal exhibits a variety of unique defect phenomena. The depolarization field in the material favors spontaneous spatial variations in polarization, manifesting in diverse forms such as…
Recently discovered ferroelectric nematic (NF) liquid crystals are fluids with a polar orientational order. The electric polarization vector can be aligned by an electric field and by surface anchoring. Here, we explore how the polarization…
The organic mesogens RM734 and DIO are members of separate molecular families featuring distinct molecular structures. These families, at the present time, are the only ones known to exhibit a ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal (LC)…
Topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) can exhibit unique, quantized electric phenomena such as fractional electric polarization and boundary-localized fractional charge. This quantized fractional charge is the generic observable for…
Liquid crystals formed of bent-core molecules are exotic materials that exhibit the twist-bend nematic phase. This arises when an energetic preference for nonzero local bend distortion is accommodated via twist in the texture, resulting in…
Topological nodal-line semimetals are characterized by symmetry-protected one-dimensional band-touching lines or loops, which give rise to their peculiar Fermi surfaces at low energies. Furthermore, if time-reversal or inversion symmetry…
The isotropic to ferroelectric nematic liquid transition had been theoretically studied over one hundred years ago, but its experimental studies are rare. Here we present polarizing optical microscopy studies and theoretical considerations…