Related papers: Liquid crystal pretilt control by inhomogeneous su…
Motile liquid crystal (LC) colloids show peculiar behavior due to the high sensitivity to external stimuli driven by the LC elastic and surface effects. However, few studies focus on harnessing the LC phase transitions to propel colloidal…
We report that the properties of the isotropic to nematic liquid crystalline phase transition of F-actin depend critically on the average filament length. For average filament lengths longer than 2 $\mu$m, we confirm previous findings that…
A generalized model taking into account the photoisomerization influence on the nematic ordering is presented. This generalized theory is used to investigate the effect of the nonextensivity on the concentration dependence of the long-range…
Recent liquid-crystalline (LC) research is focused on structurally new molecular systems distinct from simple nematic or smectic phases. Sophisticated molecular shape may reveal structural complexity, combining helicity and polarity.…
We analyse the homogeneous instabilities in a nematic liquid crystal subjected to plane steady Couette or Poiseuille flow in the case when the director is pre-aligned perpendicular to the flow plane taking into account weak anchoring at the…
The optical birefringence of rod-like nematogens (7CB, 8CB), imbibed in parallel silica channels with 10 nm diameter and 300 micrometer length, is measured and compared to the thermotropic bulk behavior. The orientational order of the…
In this work we numerically study the switching dynamics of a 2D cholesteric emulsion droplet immersed in an isotropic fluid under an electric field, which is either uniform or rotating with constant speed. The overall dynamics depend…
We extend Mode-Coupling Theory (MCT) to inhomogeneous situations, relevant for supercooled liquid in pores, close to a surface, or in an external field. We compute the response of the dynamical structure factor to a static inhomogeneous…
This article models experimentally observed three dimensional particle-like waves that develop in nematic liquid crystals, with negative dielectric and conductive anisotropy, when subject to an applied alternating electric field. The liquid…
We study an initial value problem for two-dimensional needle crystal growth with anisotropic surface tension. The initial value problem is derived from the so called one-sided model based on complex variables method. We then obtain the…
We propose a general formalism to characterize orientational frustration of smectic liquid crystals in confinement by interpreting the emerging networks of grain boundaries as objects with a topological charge. In a formal idealization,…
A liquid crystal optical device made of an optically anisotropic heterostructure is considered. The device consists of a cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) layer sandwiched by two phase-shifting anisotropic layers of a nematic liquid crystal…
Nuclei of ordered materials emerging from the isotropic state usually show a shape topologically equivalent to a sphere; the well-known examples are crystals and nematic liquid crystal droplets. In this work, we explore experimentally and…
Protection of topological surface states by reflection symmetry breaks down when the boundary of the sample is misaligned with one of the high symmetry planes of the crystal. We demonstrate that this limitation is removed in amorphous…
A wide variety of real random composites can be studied by means of prototypes of multiphase microstructures with a controllable spatial inhomogeneity. To create them, we propose a versatile model of randomly overlapping super-spheres of a…
We study adsorption of liquid at a one-dimensional substrate composed of a single chemical inhomogeneity of width $2L$ placed on an otherwise homogeneous, planar, solid surface. The excess point free energy $\eta (L,T)$ associated with the…
An elastic sheet lying on the surface of a liquid, if axially compressed, shows a transition from a smooth sinusoidal pattern to a well localized fold. This wrinkle-to-fold transition is a manifestation of a localized buckling. The…
The emergence of new techniques for the fabrication of nematic droplets with nontrivial topology provides new routes for the assembly of responsive devices. Here we perform a numerical study of spherical nematic droplets on fibres. We…
Ferroelectric nematics present properties promising for applications, which strongly depend on the confinement conditions and the presence of defects. In this work, we have observed and analysed textures in the cells with homogeneous…
Self-assembly of colloidal particles due to elastic interactions in nematic liquid crystals promises tunable composite materials and can be guided by exploiting surface functionalization, geometric shape and topology, though these means of…