Related papers: Phase Behavior of Bent-Core Molecules
Chiral molecules form a number of non-chiral structures, the simplest being an isotropic fluid phase. In a mesophase of achiral molecules the fluctuations will on average be achiral as well: left-handed twists and right-handed twists will…
Phenomenological model of chiral polar smectics is introduced with interactions up to the fourth neighboring layers. The minimization of the free energy gives three stable structures: the ferroelectric Sm C$^*$ phase, the antiferroelectric…
Liquid crystals in two dimensions undergo a first-order isotropic-to-quasi-nematic transition, provided the particle interactions are sufficiently ``sharp and narrow''. This implies phase coexistence between isotropic and quasi-nematic…
Liquid crystal mesophases of achiral molecules are normally achiral, yet in a few materials they spontaneously segregate and form right- and left-handed chiral domains. One mechanism that drives chiral segregation is molecular shape…
Thermotropic biaxial nematic phases seem to be rare, but biaxial smectic A phases less so. Here we use molecular field theory to study a simple two-parameter model, with one parameter promoting a biaxial phase and the second promoting…
We report on a new experimental procedure for forming and studying polar smectic liquid crystal films. A free standing smectic film is put in contact with a liquid drop, so that the film has one liquid crystal/liquid interface and one…
We investigate the phase behavior of a system of hard equilateral and right-angled triangles in two dimensions using Monte Carlo simulations. Hard equilateral triangles undergo a continuous isotropic-triatic liquid crystal phase transition…
4-n-octyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) has been recently shown to display an unusual sequence of phases when confined into porous silicon (PSi). The gradual increase of oriented short-range smectic (SRS) correlations in place of a phase transition…
The dielectric spectra of the twist bend nematic phase of the bent shaped achiral liquid crystal dimer are studied for the determination of the different relaxation modes. The two molecular processes were assigned one to the precessional…
We study the smectic AC transition in anisotropic and uniaxial disordered environments, e.g., aerogel with an external field. We find very strange behavior of translational correlations: the low-temperature, lower-symmetry Smectic C phase…
In culture migrating and interacting amoeboid cells can form nematic liquid crystal phases. A polar nematic liquid crystal is formed if the interaction has a polar symmetry. One type of white blood cells (granulocytes) form clusters where…
We report the discovery of a new Twist Grain Boundary phase. This phase is characterised by a 2-dimensional undulation of the smectic C* like blocks in the form of a square lattice. We suggest that this three dimensionally modulated…
We develop a lattice model for the splay flexoelectric effect in nematic liquid crystals. In this model, each lattice site has a spin representing the local molecular orientation, and the interaction between neighboring spins represents…
It has been suggested that some strongly correlated matter might be understood qualitatively in terms of liquid crystalline phases intervening between the Fermi gas and the Wigner crystal or Mott insulator. We propose a tunable realisation…
We obtain the phase diagram of spin-imbalanced interacting Fermi gases from measurements of density profiles of $^6$Li atoms in a harmonic trap. These results agree with, and extend, previous experimental measurements. Measurements of the…
We study numerically a model of non-aligning self-propelled particles interacting through steric repulsion, which was recently shown to exhibit active phase separation in two dimensions in the absence of any attractive interaction or…
We study a class of models for \sbentcore molecules using low density version of Local Density Functional Theory. Arms of the molecules are modeled using two- and three Gay-Berne (GB) interacting units of uniaxial and biaxial symmetry.…
We show that stable, freely suspended liquid crystal films can be made from the ferroelectric nematic ($\mathrm{N_F}$) phase and from the recently discovered polar, lamellar $\mathrm{SmZ_A}$ and $\mathrm{SmA_F}$ phases. The $\mathrm{N_F}$…
Molecular Dynamic and Monte Carlo studies are performed in a family of core-softened (CS) potential, composed by two length scales: a repulsive shoulder at short distances and the another a variable scale, that can be repulsive or strongly…
We examine the behavior of spherical silica particles trapped at an air-nematic liquid crystal interface. When a strong normal anchoring is imposed, the beads spontaneously form various structures depending on their area density and the…