Soft Matter Theory & Simulations Group

PRE: Liq. Cryst.

• Nanoparticle surface energy transfer (NSET) in ferroelectric liquid crystal–metallic-silver nanoparticle composites: Effect of dopant concentration on NSET parameters
  Author(s): T. Vimal, G. H. Pujar, K Agrahari, Sanjeev R. Inamdar, and R. ManoharIn the recent past, the resonance energy transfer studies using metallic nanoparticles has become a matter of quintessence in modern technology, which considerably extends its applications in probing specific biological and chemical processes. In the present study, metallic-silve […]
• Molecular origin of the heterogeneity in the nematic and smectic liquid crystals: Elastic constants, gradients of order parameters, and visualization of small objects
  Author(s): A. V. Emelyanenko, E. S. Filimonova, and A. R. KhokhlovThe formation of heterogeneous nematic and smectic liquid crystals in the general case of an arbitrary geometry is investigated in the framework of molecular-statistical approach [Emelyanenko and Khokhlov, J. Chem. Phys. 142, 204905 (2015)]. The molecular aspects of the orientational and trans […]
• Graphene as an alignment agent, an electrode, and a source of surface chirality in a smectic-A liquid crystal
  Author(s): Rajratan BasuA liquid crystal (LC) cell was fabricated by putting together a monolayer graphene-coated glass substrate on one side, and a rubbed planar-aligning polyimide layer on an indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate on the other side. The monolayer graphene film served as the planar-alignment agent ...[Phys. Rev. E 103, 022710] Publis […]
• Nematic tactoid population
  Author(s): Silvia Paparini and Epifanio G. VirgaTactoids are pointed, spindlelike droplets of nematic liquid crystal in an isotropic fluid. They have long been observed in inorganic and organic nematics, in thermotropic phases as well as lyotropic colloidal aggregates. The variational problem of determining the optimal shape of a nematic droplet ...[Phys. Re […]
• Osmotic-pressure-induced phase transition of a surfactant-DNA complex
  Author(s): S. Madhukar, A. V. Radhakrishnan, and V. A. RaghunathanWe have studied the effect of osmotic pressure on complexes formed by DNA with the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium tosylate using small-angle x-ray scattering. Earlier studies have shown that these complexes exhibit three different phases depending on the DNA and surfactant concentr […]
• Phase-field model for elastocapillary flows of liquid crystals
  Author(s): Mingfeng Qiu, James J. Feng, and Jean-Christophe LoudetWe propose a phase-field model to study interfacial flows of nematic liquid crystals that couple the capillary forces on the interface with the elastic stresses in the nematic phase. The theoretical model has two key ingredients: A tensor order parameter that provides a consistent description […]
• Some geometrical aspects of packing of bent-core molecules in the triclinic smectic-${C}_{g}$ liquid crystals and simple models of the modulated $\mathrm{Sm}{C}_{gmod}$ phase
  Author(s): N. V. MadhusudanaOrganic compounds with bent-core (BC) molecules usually form the layered smectic liquid crystals with tilted molecules and polarization (P) which lies in the plane of the layer. A few such compounds have been found in which P itself tilts out of the plane of the layer, and the medium with general ti...[Phys. Rev. E 103, 022704] Pu […]
• From $n$-layer planar ordering to the monolayer homeotropic structure of confined hard rods: The effect of shape anisotropy and wall-to-wall separation
  Author(s): Fahimeh Behzadi, Seyed Mohammad Ghazi, and Roohollah AliabadiUsing the Parsons-Lee theory, we examined the effect of shape anisotropy and the wall-to-wall separation (H) on the phase behavior of the hard parallelepiped rods with dimensions L, D, and D ($L>D$) in such narrow slitlike pores which only one homeotropic layer can form. The phase str […]
• Alignment of a topological defect by an activity gradient
  Author(s): Xingzhou Tang and Jonathan V. SelingerAs a method for controlling active materials, researchers have suggested designing patterns of activity on a substrate, which should guide the motion of topological defects. To investigate this concept, we model the behavior of a single defect of topological charge $+1/2$, moving in an activity grad...[Phys. R […]
• Experimental focusing shocklike dynamics in a nonlocal optical stochastic Kerr medium
  Author(s): A. Aleksanyan, H. Louis, J. F. Henninot, and E. LouvergneauxWe experimentally study the propagating of an optical intensity jump discontinuity in a nonlocal stochastic Kerr focusing nematic liquid crystal cell. We show both theoretically and experimentally that nonlocality opens a route towards beam steering in our system. Indeed, the discontinuit […]