Change in Stripes for Cholesteric Shells via Anchoring in Moderation

Tran, Lisa; Lavrentovich, Maxim O.; Durey, Guillaume; Darmon, Alexandre; Haase, Martin F.; Li, Ningwei; Lee, Daeyeon; Stebe, Kathleen J.; Kamien, Randall D.; López-León, Teresa

doi:10.1103/physrevx.7.041029

Cited by 58 publications

(128 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(93 reference statements)

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“…By contrast, strong homeotropic anchoring acts to repel regions of planar alignment away from the surface, forming disclinations where the cholesteric twists rapidly [13,14,15]. The surface patterns that arise from this frustration between bulk twist and surface anchoring can be tuned by varying the thickness of the CLC phase [9,16].…”

Section: Templating Particle Adsorption With Cholestericsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Swelling Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Shells to Direct the Assembly of Particles at the Interface

Tran

Bishop

2020

ACS Nano

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Cholesteric liquid crystals can exhibit spatial patterns in molecular alignment at interfaces that can be exploited for particle assembly. These patterns emerge from the competition between bulk and surface energies, tunable with the system geometry. In this work, we use the osmotic swelling of cholesteric double emulsions to assemble colloidal particles through a pathway-dependent process. Particles can be repositioned from a surface-mediated to an elasticity-mediated state through dynamically thinning the cholesteric shell at a rate comparable to that of colloidal adsorption. By tuning the balance between surface and bulk energies with the system geometry, colloidal assemblies on the cholesteric interface can be molded by the underlying elastic field to form linear aggregates. The transition of adsorbed particles from surface regions with homeotropic anchoring to defect regions is accompanied by a reduction in particle mobility. The arrested assemblies subsequently map out and stabilize topological defects. These results demonstrate the kinetic arrest of interfacial particles within definable patterns by regulating the energetic frustration within cholesterics. This work highlights the importance of kinetic pathways for particle assembly in liquid crystals, of relevance to optical and energy applications.

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Section: Templating Particle Adsorption With Cholestericsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Swelling Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Shells to Direct the Assembly of Particles at the Interface

Tran

Bishop

2020

ACS Nano

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“…The structures of cholesteric with conical boundary conditions have not been well studied yet. Smooth transformations of cholesteric orientational structures induced by the modification of normal surface anchoring to tangential one through the formation of tilted or conical boundary conditions have been observed in [30,31]. A modulated structure of cholesteric under tangential surface anchoring at one of the substrates and weak conical boundary conditions formed at the interface of CLC and its isotropic phase at the opposite side have been investigated in [32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Structures in Cells with Tangential-Conical Boundary Conditions

et al. 2019

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Orientational structures formed in nematic and cholesteric layers with tangential-conical boundary conditions have been investigated. LC cells with one substrate specifying the conical surface anchoring and another substrate specifying the tangential one have been considered. The director configurations and topological defects have been identified analyzing the texture patterns obtained by polarizing microscope in comparison with the structures and optical textures calculated by free energy minimization procedure of director field and finite-difference time-domain method, respectively. The domains, periodic structures and two-dimensional defects proper to the LC cells with tangential-conical anchoring have been studied depending on the layer thickness and cholesteric pitch.

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“…40,41 Nematic system approaches for controlling or designing the environment include photopolymerization, nanolithography, microfluidic synthesis, emulsification, microscopy, surface anchoring techniques and theoretical modelling methods. 7,9,10,21,31,42,43 Besides extensive studies on the different shapes of colloidal and confining surfaces, recent achievements have allowed for the controlled production of polymer-and other liquid-dispersed nematic droplets with different shapes, anchoring patterns and consequently different total topological charges. [43][44][45][46] Naturally, such droplets serve as controllable environments as, for example, their structure may be used to control chemical reactions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nematic colloidal knots in topological environments

Hashemi

Ravnik

2018

Soft Matter

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The role of environment in shaping material properties is of great significance, but less is known about how non-trivial topology of the environment couples to material states, which can be of non-trivial topology themselves. In this paper, we demonstrate the role of the topology of the environment on the formation of complex nematic fields and defect structures, specifically in the system of nematic colloidal knots. The topological environments around knotted colloidal particles are suggested to exist as spherical surface-patterned nematic cavities imposing radial, uniform or hyperbolic nematic profiles. We show that topologically different nematic environments significantly affect and create differences in the colloidal field structure created within the environment, such as the location, profile and number of topological defects. Specifically, we demonstrate that topological environments in combination with knotted colloidal particles of non-trivial topology lead to the formation of diverse nematic knotted and linked fields. These fields are different adaptations of the knotted shape of the colloidal particles, creating knots and links of topological defects as well as escaped-core defect-like solitonic structures. These are observed in chiral nematic media but here are stabilised in achiral nematic media as a result of the distinct shape of the knotted colloidal particle, with a double helix segment and nematic environmental patterns. More generally, this paper is a contribution towards understanding the role of environment, especially its topology, on the response and defect formation in elastic fields, such as in nematic liquid crystal colloids.

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Change in Stripes for Cholesteric Shells via Anchoring in Moderation

Cited by 58 publications

References 54 publications

Swelling Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Shells to Direct the Assembly of Particles at the Interface

Swelling Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Shells to Direct the Assembly of Particles at the Interface

Nematic and Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Structures in Cells with Tangential-Conical Boundary Conditions

Nematic colloidal knots in topological environments

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