Related papers: Confinement Reveals Hidden Splay-Bend Order in Twi…
We study how confinement transforms the chaotic dynamics of bulk microtubule-based active nematics into regular spatiotemporal patterns. For weak confinements, multiple continuously nucleating and annihilating topological defects…
We analyse a binary mixture of colloidal parallel hard cylindrical particles with identical diameters but dissimilar lengths $L_1$ and $L_2$, with $s=L_2/L_1=3$, confined by two parallel hard walls in a planar slit-pore geometry, using a…
Non-motile elongated bacteria confined in two-dimensional open micro-channels can exhibit collective motion and form dense monolayers with nematic order if the cells proliferate, i.e., grow and divide. Using soft molecular dynamics…
The recently discovered twist-bend nematic phase, $\rm N_{tb}$, is a non-uniform equilibrium nematic phase that presents a spontaneous bend with a precession of the nematic director, $\textbf{n}$, on a conical helix with a tilt angle…
The nanostructure of two novel sulfur containing dimer materials has been investigated experimentally by hard and by resonant tender X-ray scattering techniques. On cooling the dimers through the nematic to twist-bend nematic (N-NTB) phase…
We explore the nematic ordering of the rod-like liquid crystals 5CB and 6CB, embedded into parallel-aligned nanochannels in mesoporous silicon and silica membranes as a function of mean channel radius (4.7<=R <=8.3 nm), and thus geometrical…
Recently, Tavarone et al. (J. Chem. Phys. 143, 114505 (2015)) discussed phase behavior of zig-zag and bow-shaped particles composed of three needles. The authors presented very interesting results of extensive Monte Carlo simulations with…
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…
The effect of confinement on the orientational structure of a nematic liquid crystal model has been investigated by using a version of density-functional theory (DFT). We have focused on the case of a nematic confined by opposing flat…
Helical structures are exciting and are utilized in numerous applications ranging from biotechnology to displays to medicine. Accurate description and understanding of resonance effects in helical structures provides crucial knowledge on…
The understanding of self-organization in the twist-bend nematic $(N_\text{TB})$ phase, identified in 2011 in liquid crystal dimers, is at the forefront of soft matter research worldwide. This new nematic phase develops structural chirality…
Curved particles have been shown to stabilize a range of states with unique order in dense suspensions of colloidal bent core liquid crystals. The shape of the colloidal rods encourages the formation of curved director fields. However,…
Bacterial colonies are a well-known example of living active matter, exhibiting collective behaviors such as nematic alignment and collective motion that play an important role in the spread of microbial infections. While the underlying…
Using a novel Se-labelled dimer mixed with DTC5C7 aligned by magnetic field, the twist-bend nematic phase (Ntb) in dimers was studied by hard X-ray resonant scattering and by small and wide angle X-ray scattering (SAXS, WAXS). Resonant…
We study the conformations of a semiflexible chain, confined in nano-scaled spherical cavities, under two distinct processes of confinement. Radial contraction and packaging are employed as two confining procedures. The former method is…
While twist-bend nematic phases have been extensively studied, the experimental observation of two dimensional, oscillating splay-bend phases is recent. We consider two theoretical models that have been used to explain the formation of…
We use linear stability analysis and hybrid lattice Boltzmann simulations to study the dynamical behaviour of an active nematic confined in a channel made of viscoelastic material. We find that the quiescent, ordered active nematic is…
We explore reshaping of nematoelastic films upon imbibing an isotropic solvent under conditions when isotropic and nematic phases coexist. The structure of the interphase boundary is computed taken into account the optimal nematic…
We report a dynamic light scattering study of the fluctuation modes in a thermotropic liquid crystalline mixture of monomer and dimer compounds that exhibits the twist-bend nematic ($\mathrm{N_{TB}}$) phase. The results reveal a spectrum of…
The impact of confinement on self-assembly of particles interacting with short-range attraction and long-range repulsion (SALR) potential is studied for thermodynamic states corresponding to local ordering of clusters or layers in the bulk.…