Related papers: Measuring Cosmic Defect Correlations in Liquid Cry…
We present observations of strength one defects and antidefects formed in isotropic-nematic phase transition in a thin layer of nematic liquid crystals, using a cross-polarizer setup. We measure the widths of the distributions of {\it net}…
We have observed the production of strings (disclination lines and loops) via the Kibble mechanism of domain (bubble) formation in the isotropic to nematic phase transition of a sample of uniaxial nematic liquid crystal. The probablity of…
Evolution of the order parameter in condensed matter analogues of cosmological phase transitions is discussed. It is shown that the density of the frozen-out topological defects is set by the competition between the quench rate -- the rate…
I report on the observation of the production of strings (disclination lines and loops) via the Kibble mechanism of domain (bubble) formation in the isotropic to nematic phase transition of a sample of uniaxial nematic liquid crystal. The…
We use molecular dynamics to study the ordering of a nematic liquid crystal around a spherical particle or droplet. Homeotropic boundary conditions and strong anchoring create a hedgehog director configuration on the particle surface and in…
The experiments on verification of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism showed that topological defects are formed most efficiently in the systems of small size or low (quasi-)dimensionality, whereas in the macroscopic two- and three-dimensional…
Nematic liquid crystal (LC) is a partially ordered matter that has been a popular model system for studying a variety of topological behaviors in condensed matter. In this work, utilizing a spontaneously twisting achiral LC, we introduce a…
Topological defects are ubiquitous in physics. Whenever a symmetry breaking phase transition occurs, topological defects may form. The best known examples are vortex lines in type II super conductors or in liquid Helium, and declination…
The crossing of a continuous phase transition results in the formation of topological defects with a density predicted by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM). We characterize the spatial distribution of point-like topological defects in the…
In cosmological first-order phase transitions, the progress of true-vacuum bubbles is expected to be significantly retarded by the interaction between the bubble wall and the hot plasma. It has been claimed that this leads to a significant…
The properties of liquid crystals can be modelled using an order parameter which describes the variability of the local orientation of rod-like molecules. Defects in the director field can arise due to external factors such as applied…
Liquid crystals are assemblies of rod-like molecules which self-organize to form mesophases, in-between ordinary liquids and anisotropic crystals. At each point, the molecules collectively orient themselves along a privileged direction,…
The thermodynamic properties of disks moving in a channel sufficiently narrow that they can collide only with their nearest neighbors can be solved exactly by determining the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of an integral equation. Using it…
Using computer simulations we investigate the microscopic structure of the singular director field within a nematic droplet. As a theoretical model for nematic liquid crystals we take hard spherocylinders. To induce an overall topological…
Symmetry breaking phase transitions play an important role in nature. When a system traverses such a transition at a finite rate, its causally disconnected regions choose the new broken symmetry state independently. Where such local choices…
Formation of topological defects during symmetry breaking phase transitions via the {\it Kibble mechanism} is extensively used in systems ranging from condensed matter physics to the early stages of the universe. Kibble mechanism uses…
Topologically protected defects have been observed and studied in a wide range of fields, such as cosmology, spin systems, cold atoms and optics as they are quenched across a phase transition into an ordered state. Revealing their origin…
We use laser-cooled ion Coulomb crystals in the well-controlled environment of a harmonic radiofrequency ion trap to investigate phase transitions and defect formation. Topological defects in ion Coulomb crystals (kinks) have been recently…
In a finite-time continuous phase transition, topological defects emerge as the system undergoes spontaneous symmetry breaking. The Kibble-Zurek mechanism predicts how the defect density scales with the quench rate. During such processes,…
Topological defects are distinctive signatures of liquid crystals. They profoundly affect the viscoelastic behavior of the fluid by constraining the orientational structure in a way that inevitably requires global changes not achievable…