Soft Matter Theory & Simulations Group

PRE: Liq. Cryst.

• Thermotropic liquid crystal (5CB) on two-dimensional materials
  Author(s): Paul A. Brown, Sean A. Fischer, Jakub Kołacz, Christopher Spillmann, and Daniel GunlyckeWe present ground-state electronic properties of the liquid crystal 4-cyano-${4}^{′}$-pentylbiphenyl (5CB) on the two-dimensional materials monolayer graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, and phosphorene. Our density functional theory results show that the physiso […]
• Helicoids in chiral liquid crystals under external fields
  Author(s): G. De Matteis, L. Martina, C. Naya, and V. TurcoCholesteric liquid crystals, subject to externally applied magnetic fields and confined between two parallel planar surfaces with strong homeotropic anchoring conditions, are found to undergo transitions to different types of helicoidal configurations with disclinations. Analytical and numerical stu. […]
• Elucidation of the de Vries behavior in terms of the orientational order parameter, apparent tilt angle, and field-induced tilt angle for smectic liquid crystals by polarized infrared spectroscopy
  Author(s): Neelam Yadav, V. Swaminathan, V. P. Panov, R. Dhar, and J. K. VijWe report experimental results of the orientational order parameter, the apparent tilt angle, and the field-induced tilt angle for three chiral smectic liquid crystalline materials investigated using infrared (IR) polarized spectroscopy. The common feature in these materials is use o […]
• Chiral nematic liquid crystals in torus-shaped and cylindrical cavities
  Author(s): Charlie R. Wand and Martin A. BatesWe present a Monte Carlo simulation study of chiral nematic liquid crystals confined in torus-shaped and cylindrical cavities. For an achiral nematic with planar degenerate anchoring confined to a toroidal or cylindrical cavity, the ground state is defect free, with an untwisted director field. As c...[Phys. Rev. […]
• Uniform distortions and generalized elasticity of liquid crystals
  Author(s): Epifanio G. VirgaThis paper presents a generalization of the elastic theory of anisotropic materials having nematic symmetry. The author shows that two families of heliconical distortions with opposite twists account for all uniform distortions of the nematic director that can fill three-dimensional space. An expression describing the twist-bend n […]
• Self-organization of tip-functionalized elongated colloidal particles
  Author(s): Mariana Oshima Menegon, Guido L. A. Kusters, and Paul van der SchootWeakly attractive interactions between the tips of rodlike colloidal particles affect their liquid-crystal phase behavior due to a subtle interplay between enthalpy and entropy. Here we employ molecular dynamics simulations on semiflexible, repulsive bead-spring chains where one o […]
• Molecular theory of liquid-crystal ordering in rod-coil diblock copolymers
  Author(s): M. A. Osipov and M. V. GorkunovMolecular-statistical theory of rod-coil diblock copolymers is proposed using the general density functional approach which enables one to consider the cases of both weak and strong segregation. The free energy of the system is expressed as a functional of the phase-space densities of rod and coil m...[Phys. Rev. E 1 […]
• Orientational ordering and layering of hard plates in narrow slitlike pores
  Author(s): Sakine Mizani, Roohollah Aliabadi, Hamdollah Salehi, and Szabolcs VargaWe examine the ordering behavior of hard platelike particles in a very narrow, slitlike pore using the Parsons-Lee density functional theory and the restricted orientation approximation. We observe that the plates are orientationally ordered and align perpendicularly (face-on) […]
• Kinklike pressure wave in the microsized twisted nematic volume
  Author(s): A. V. Zakharov and P. V. MaslennikovWe have described a novel mechanism of the kinklike pressure $\mathcal{P}(z−vt)$ response of the microsized twisted nematic volume under the effect of externally applied electric field $\mathbf{\text{E}}$ directed parallel to the restricted surfaces and induced by a strong local disturbance of the d...[Phys. Rev […]
• Observation of cavity polaritons in a metal-mirror Fabry-Pérot microcavity containing liquid-crystalline semiconductor based on perylene bisimide units
  Author(s): Nobutaka Kani, Makoto Suzuki, Kouichi Nishiyama, Shunsuke Nakanishi, Masahiro Funahashi, and Noriaki TsurumachiWe investigate the optical properties of a metal-mirror microcavity containing a liquid-crystalline (LC) perylene tetracarboxylic bisimide (PTCBI) derivative. Measurements of the transmission's incidence angle dependence show that th […]