Related papers: Manipulation and removal of defects in spontaneous…

Spontaneous pattern formation from a uniform state is a widely studied nonlinear optical phenomenon that shares similarities with non-equilibrium pattern formation in other scientific domains. Here we show how a single layer of atoms in an…

Active systems, from bacterial suspensions to cellular monolayers, are continuously driven out of equilibrium by local injection of energy from their constituent elements and exhibit turbulent-like and chaotic patterns. Here we demonstrate…

Topological defects play a central role in the physics of many materials, including magnets, superconductors and liquid crystals. In active fluids, defects become autonomous particles that spontaneously propel from internal active stresses…

Topological defects -- locations of local mismatch of order -- are a universal concept playing important roles in diverse systems studied in physics and beyond, including the universe, various condensed matter systems, and recently, even…

Photonic crystals with a sufficiently high refractive index contrast display partial or full band gaps. However, imperfections in the metamaterial cause light scattering and extinction of the interfering propagating waves. Positive as well…

Control over the physical properties of materials is ubiquitously required in many fields. One means by which this can be achieved is controlling the internal structure of multi-component materials with an eye to enhancing mechanical…

Differential Dynamic Microscopy (DDM) analyzes traditional real-space microscope images to extract information on sample dynamics in a way akin to light scattering, by decomposing each image in a sequence into Fourier modes, and evaluating…

We present a progress overview focused on the recent theoretical and experimental advances in the area of soliton manipulation in optical lattices. Optical lattices offer the possibility to engineer and to control the diffraction of light…

Fourier optics, the principle of using Fourier Transformation to understand the functionalities of optical elements, lies at the heart of modern optics, and has been widely applied to optical information processing, imaging, holography etc.…

The rapidly developing field of optomechanics aims at the combined control of optical and mechanical (solid-state or atomic) modes. In particular, laser cooled atoms have been used to exploit optomechanical coupling for self-organization in…

Topological defects are singularities within a field that cannot be removed by continuous transformations. The definition of these irregularities requires an ordered reference configuration, calling into question whether they exist in…

The persistent dynamics in systems out of equilibrium, particularly those characterized by annihilation and creation of topological defects, is known to involve complicated spatiotemporal processes and is deemed difficult to control. Here…

When propagating through periodically structured media, i. e. photonic crystals, optical waves will be modulated with the periodicity. As a result, the dispersion of waves will no longer behave as in a free space, and so called frequency…

We use machine learning methods on local structure to identify flow defects - or regions susceptible to rearrangement - in jammed and glassy systems. We apply this method successfully to two disparate systems: a two dimensional experimental…

Topological defects in active liquid crystals can be confined by introducing gradients of activity. Here, we examine the dynamical behavior of two defects confined by a sharp gradient of activity that separates an active circular region and…

Topological defects are ubiquitous on surfaces with orientational order fields. Here, we study equilibrium states generated by the feedback between geometry and nematic order on fluid membranes with an integer topological defect. When the…

To enhance the understanding of the behavior of active nematic, it is important to understand the behavior of topological defects. In this paper, we study the configuration of topological defects of a two-dimensional active nematic around a…

All light has structure, but only recently it has become possible to construct highly controllable and precise potentials so that most laboratories can harness light for their specific applications. In this chapter, we review the emerging…

Defects are a ubiquitous feature of ordered media. They have certain universal features, independent of the underlying physical system, reflecting their topological origins. While the topological properties of defects are robust, they…

Structured light, where complex optical fields are tailored in all their degrees of freedom, has become highly topical of late, advanced by a sophisticated toolkit comprising both linear and nonlinear optics. Removing undesired structure…