Related papers: Phase Transitions in Lyotropic Nematic Gels
We study a simple model of a nematic liquid crystal made of parallel ellipsoidal particles interacting via a repulsive Gaussian law. After identifying the relevant solid phases of the system through a careful zero-temperature scrutiny of as…
The liquid-gas phase transition in finite nuclei is studied in a heated liquid-drop model where the drop is assumed to be in thermodynamic equilibrium with the vapour emanated from it. Changing pressure along the liquid-gas coexistence line…
The isotropic-nematic phase behavior of length polydisperse hard rods with arbitrary length distributions is calculated. Within a numerical treatment of the polydisperse Onsager model using the Gaussian trial function Ansatz we determine…
The possible symmetries of the biaxial nematic phase are examined against the implications of the presently available experimental results. Contrary to the widespread notion that biaxial nematics have orthorhombic symmetry, our study shows…
The surface alignment of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) can be not only planar (tangential) but also homeotropic, with self-assembled aggregates perpendicular to the substrate, as demonstrated by mapping optical retardation and…
A system that possesses translational symmetry but breaks orientational symmetry is known as a nematic phase. While there are many examples of nematic phases in a wide range of contexts, such as in liquid crystals, complex oxides, and…
A system of two self and mutual interacting ring polymers, close together in space, can display several competing equilibrium phases and phase transitions. Using Monte Carlo simulations and combinatorial arguments on a corresponding lattice…
The influence of the shape anisotropy of magnetic particles on the isotropic-nematic phase transition was studied in ferronematics based on the nematic liquid crystal 4-(trans-4-n-hexylcyclohexyl)-isothiocyanato-benzene (6CHBT). The liquid…
We studied the dynamics of isotropic-nematic transitions in liquid crystalline polymers by integrating time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations. In a concentrated solution of rodlike polymers, the rotational diffusion constant Dr of the…
Liquid crystal materials exhibiting up to three nematic phases are reported. Dielectric response measurements show that while the lower temperature nematic phase has ferroelectric order and the highest temperature nematic phase is apolar,…
Monte Carlo simulations and finite-size scaling analysis have been carried out to study the critical behavior and universality for the isotropic-nematic phase transition in a system of long straight rigid rods of length $k$ ($k$-mers) on…
Solid-solid collapse transition in open framework structures is ubiquitous in nature. The real difficulty in understanding detailed microscopic aspects of such transitions in molecular systems arises from the interplay between different…
We propose a lattice model to simulate the influence of porous medium on the Nematic - Isotropic transition of liquid crystal confined to the pores. The effects of pore size and pore connectivity are modelled through a disorder parameter.…
In this article, we construct and analyze models of anisotropic crosslinked polymers employing tools from the theory of liquid crystal elastomers. The anisotropy of these systems stems from the presence of rigid-rod molecular units in the…
We study analytically and numerically a generic continuum model of an isotropic active solid with internal stresses generated by non-equilibrium `active' mechano-chemical reactions. Our analysis shows that the gel can be tuned through three…
Colloid-polymer mixtures may undergo either fluid-fluid phase separation or gelation. This depends on the depth of the quench (polymer concentration) and polymer-colloid size ratio. We present a real-space study of dynamics in phase…
The structural arrest of a polymeric suspension might be driven by an increase of the cross--linker concentration, that drives the gel transition, as well as by an increase of the polymer density, that induces a glass transition. These…
We present theory and simulation of simultaneous chemical demixing and phase ordering in a polymer-liquid crystal mixture in conditions where isotropic- isotropic phase separation is metastable with respect to isotropic-nematic phase…
We explore the structure of nuclei and topological defects in the first-order phase transition between the nematic (N) and isotropic (I) phases in lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs). The LCLCs are formed by self-assembled molecular…
We study a minimal model of a system with coexisting nematic and polar orientational orders, where one field tends to order and the other prefers isotropy. For strong coupling, the ordered field aligns the isotropic one, locking their…