Related papers: Polar Smectic Films
The hydrodynamic theory of polar liquid crystals is widely used to describe biological active fluids as well as passive molecular materials. Depending on the `shear-alignment parameter', in passive or weakly active polar fluids under…
Using a novel differential magneto-optical imaging technique we investigate the phenomenon of vortex lattice melting in crystals of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8 (BSCCO). The images of melting reveal complex patterns in the formation and evolution of…
We report on a comprehensive computer simulation study of the liquid-crystal phase behaviour of purely repulsive, semi-flexible rod-like particles. For the four aspect ratios we consider, the particles form five distinct phases depending on…
Vortex crystals are commonly observed in ultra-thin ferroelectrics. However, a clear physical picture of origin of this topological state is currently lacking. Here, we show that vortex crystallization in ultra-thin Pb(Zr0.4,Ti0.6)O3 films…
The skyrmion crystal is a periodic array of a swirling topological spin texture. Since it is regarded as an interference pattern by multiple helical spin density waves, the texture changes with the relative phases among the constituent…
The known ground state of ultrathin smectic films confined to the surface of a sphere is described by four +1/2 defects assembled on a great circle and a director which follows geodesic lines. Using a simple perturbative approach we show…
The dynamics of active smectic liquid crystals confined on a spherical surface is explored through an active phase field crystal model. Starting from an initially randomly perturbed isotropic phase, several types of topological defects are…
The viscosity of glass-forming liquids increases by many orders of magnitude if their temperature is lowered by a mere factor of 2-3 [1,2]. Recent studies suggest that this widespread phenomenon is accompanied by spatially heterogeneous…
We show that helium film-mediated hydrogen-hydrogen interactions account for a two orders of magnitude discrepancy between previous theory and recent experiments on cold collision shifts in spin-polarized hydrogen adsorbed on a helium film.…
We present a neutron scattering analysis of the structure of the smectic liquid crystal octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB) confined in one-dimensional nanopores of porous silicon films (PS). The smectic transition is completely suppressed, leading to…
Semiflexible polymers in concentrated lyotropic solution are studied within a bead-spring model by molecular dynamics simulations, focusing on the emergence of a smectic A phase and its properties. We systematically vary the density of the…
The spontaneous formation of droplets via dewetting of a thin fluid film from a solid substrate allows for materials nanostructuring, under appropriate experimental control. While thermal fluctuations are expected to play a role in this…
Using optical microscopy, phase shifting interferometry and atomic force microscopy, we demonstrate the existence of undulated structures in the meniscus of ferroelectric smectic-C* films. The meniscus is characterized by a periodic…
We formulate the thin-film hydrodynamics of a suspension of polar self-driven particles and show that it is prone to several instabilities through the interplay of activity, polarity and the existence of a free surface. Our approach…
When a drop impacts a solid substrate or a thin liquid film, a thin gas disc is entrapped due to surface tension, the gas disc retracts into one or several bubbles. While the evolution of the gas disc for impact on solid substrate or film…
Recent experiments have reported a novel splay nematic phase, which has alternating domains of positive and negative splay. To model this phase, previous studies have considered a 1D splay modulation of the director field, accompanied by a…
We analyze the transverse intersubstrate pseudo-Casimir force, arising as a result of thermal fluctuations of the liquid crystalline layers of a smectic-A film confined between two planar substrates in a bookshelf geometry, in which the…
Using simulations of hard rods in smectic-A states, we find non-gaussian diffusion and heterogeneous dynamics due to the equilibrium periodic smectic density profiles, which give rise to permanent barriers for layer-to-layer diffusion. This…
We investigate the finite-temperature phase diagram of polar molecules confined in a quasi-two-dimensional geometry by a harmonic potential along the polarization axis. We employ Quantum Monte Carlo simulations to explore the strongly…
This paper reviews recent Monte Carlo simulation studies of the glassy behavior in thin polymer films. The simulations employ a version of the bond-fluctuation lattice model, in which the glass transition is driven by the competition…