Soft Matter Theory & Simulations Group

PRE: Liq. Cryst.

• Ultraconfined oblate hard particles between hybrid penetrable walls
  Author(s): C. Anquetil-Deck, D. J. Cleaver, and P. I. C. TeixeiraWe have investigated, by Monte Carlo simulation, the orientational structure of very thin films of a discotic liquid crystal (DLC) confined between hybrid walls of controllable penetrability, as a function of wall separation ${L}_{z}$. Our purpose was to clarify whether, as predicted by continu […]
• Edge-on anchored discotic liquid crystals in spherical shells: A computational study of the phases and defects
  Author(s): Daniel Salgado-Blanco, Enrique Díaz-Herrera, José A. Martínez-González, and Carlos I. MendozaThe self-assembly of liquid crystal droplets and shells represents a captivating frontier in soft matter physics, promising precision engineering of functional materials. In this study, we delve into the phase behavior and investigate defect formation patt […]
• Nonsymmetrical thermal conductivity along the director field in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals
  Author(s): Lidiane Maria de Souza, Junaid Sofi, and Erms PereiraThe synthesis of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals (FNLCs) concludes the long wait for their existence and potential usage in multiple liquid crystal based applications. In FNLCs, electric polarization in the nematic phase significantly decreases the switching time of in-on display pixels. I […]
• Hele-Shaw flow of a nematic liquid crystal
  Author(s): Joseph R. L. Cousins, Nigel J. Mottram, and Stephen K. WilsonMotivated by the variety of applications in which nematic Hele-Shaw flow occurs, a theoretical model for Hele-Shaw flow of a nematic liquid crystal is formulated and analyzed. We derive the thin-film Ericksen-Leslie equations that govern nematic Hele-Shaw flow, and consider two important […]
• Surface-directed dynamics in living liquid crystals
  Author(s): Aditya Vats, Varsha Banerjee, and Sanjay PuriWe study living liquid crystals (LLCs), which are an amalgam of nematic liquid crystals (LCs) and active matter (AM). These LLCs are placed in contact with surfaces which impose planar/homeotropic boundary conditions on the director field of the LC and the polarization field of the AM. The interplay…[Ph […]
• Constraining the value of the dielectric constant of the ferroelectric nematic phase
  Author(s): Aitor Erkoreka and Josu Martinez-PerdigueroFerroelectric nematic liquid crystals are currently being subject to a plethora of investigations since they are of great fundamental interest and could potentially foster promising applications. However, many basic aspects are still poorly understood, among which the problem of the dielectric const…[Phys […]
• Ordered structures formed by nematic topological defects and their transformation with changing the Euler characteristics
  Author(s): P. V. Dolganov, N. A. Spiridenko, and V. K. DolganovOrdered chain structures from topological defects of opposite charges (“necklaces” of defects) were prepared and their dynamics and cooperative rearrangement were investigated. We studied topological defects in nematic films with change of the Euler characteristic induced by temperature. Topologi […]
• Dynamic flexoelectric instabilities in nematic liquid crystals
  Author(s): E. S. Pikina, A. R. Muratov, E. I. Kats, and V. V. LebedevElectrohydrodynamic phenomena in liquid crystals constitute an old but still very active research area. The reason is that these phenomena play the key role in various applications of liquid crystals and due to the general interest of the physical community in out-of-equilibrium systems. Ne […]
• Steepness-fragility insights from the temperature derivative analysis of dielectric data of a highly nonsymmetric liquid crystal dimer
  Author(s): Josep Salud, Nerea Sebastián, María R. de la Fuente, S. Diez-Berart, and David O. LópezA comprehensive dynamic analysis of the dielectric relaxation-time data across a broad temperature range for both isotropic and nematic phases has been conducted on the CBO3O.Py liquid crystal dimer, the shorter chain-length compound within the highly nonsymmetr […]
• Point and line defects in checkerboard patterned hybrid nematic films: A computer simulation investigation
  Author(s): Mariana Casaroto, Cesare Chiccoli, Luiz Roberto Evangelista, Paolo Pasini, Rodolfo Teixeira de Souza, Claudio Zannoni, and Rafael Soares ZolaWe consider a nematic liquid crystal film confined to a flat cell with homeotropic and planar patterned hybrid anchoring and show, using Monte Carlo simulations, the possibility of the system to stabilize lin […]