1. Stable assemblies of topological defects in nematic orientational orderArbresha Hölbl, Luka Mesarec, Juš Polanšek, Aleš Iglič, Samo Kralj, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: We considered general mechanisms enabling the stabilization of localized assemblies of topological defects (TDs). There is growing evidence that physical fields represent fundamental natural entities, and therefore these features are of interest to all branches of physics. In general, cores of TDs are energetically costly, and consequently, assemblies of TDs are unfavorable. Owing to the richness of universalities in the physics of TDs, it is of interest to identify systems where they are easily experimentally accessible, enabling detailed and well-controlled analysis of their universal behavior, and cross-fertilizing knowledge in different areas of physics. In this respect, thermotropic nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) represent an ideal experiment testbed for such studies. In addition, TDs in NLCs could be exploited in several applications. We present examples that emphasize the importance of curvature imposed on the phase component of the relevant order parameter field. In NLCs, it is represented by the nematic tensor order parameter. Using a simple Landau-type approach, we show how the coupling between chirality and saddle splay elasticity, which can be expressed as a Gaussian curvature contribution, can stabilize Meron TDs. The latter have numerous analogs in other branches of physics. TDs in 2D curved manifolds reveal that the Gaussian curvature dominantly impacts the assembling and stabilization of TDs. Furthermore, a strong enough curvature that serves as an attractor for TDs is a respective field that could be imposed in a fast enough phase transition. Assemblies of created TDs created in such a disordered environment could be stabilized by appropriate impurities.
Keywords: topological defects, nematic liquid crystals, Gaussian curvature, topological charge
Published in DKUM: 17.07.2023; Views: 421; Downloads: 23
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2. Impact of curvature on nematic topological defectsLuka Mesarec, 2018, doctoral dissertation Abstract: Topological defects (TDs) appear almost unavoidably in continuous symmetry breaking phase transitions. The topological origin makes their key features independent of systems' microscopic details; therefore TDs display many universalities. Because of their strong impact on numerous material properties and their significant role in several technological applications it is of strong interest to find simple and robust mechanisms controlling the positioning and local number of TDs. There are strong evidences that in physics the fields are fundamental entities of nature and not particles. If this is the case then topological defects (TDs) might play the role of fundamental particles. An adequate testing ground to study and gain fundamental understanding of TDs are nematic liquid crystals. We present a numerical study of TDs within effectively two dimensional closed soft films exhibiting in-plane orientational ordering. Popular examples of such class of systems are liquid crystalline shells and various biological membranes.
We analyze the impact of extrinsic and intrinsic curvature on positions of topological defects (TDs) in two-dimensional (2D) nematic films. We demonstrate that both these curvature contributions are commonly present and are expected to be weighted by comparable elastic constants. A simple Landau-de Gennes approach in terms of tensor nematic order parameter is used to numerically demonstrate impact of the curvatures on position of TDs on 2D ellipsoidal nematic shells. We introduce the Effective Topological Charge Cancellation mechanism controlling localised positional assembling tendency of TDs and the formation of pairs (defect,antidefect) on curved surfaces. Furthermore, we estimate a critical depinning threshold to form pairs (defect,antidefect) using the electrostatic analogy. Finally, we show how one could efficiently switch among qualitatively different structures by using a relative volume of ordered shells, which represents a relatively simple naturally accessible control parameter.
In doctoral thesis, we developed theoretical model of erythrocyte membrane by using a hybrid Helfrich-Landau type mesoscopic approach, taking into account in-plane membrane ordering. We demonstrate that the derived extrinsic membrane energy term, which strongly depends on the local orientations of the molecules, is essential for the predicted broadening of the range of the relative volumes corresponding to the stable discocyte shapes, which is otherwise very narrow if only intrinsic curvature energy term dominates.
Keywords: Topological defects, Continuum fields, Nematic liquid crystals, Biological membranes, Nematic shells, Landau-de Gennes formalism, Topological charge, Nanoparticles, Gaussian curvature, Electrostatic analogy, Intrinsic curvature, Extrinsic curvature, Crystal growth nucleation, Relative
volume
Published in DKUM: 09.03.2018; Views: 2391; Downloads: 242
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3. Curvature-controlled topological defectsLuka Mesarec, Pavlo Kurioz, Aleš Iglič, Wojciech Góźdź, Samo Kralj, original scientific article Abstract: Effectively, two-dimensional (2D) closed films exhibiting in-plane orientational ordering (ordered shells) might be instrumental for the realization of scaled crystals. In them, ordered shells are expected to play the role of atoms. Furthermore, topological defects (TDs) within them would determine their valence. Namely, bonding among shells within an isotropic liquid matrix could be established via appropriate nano-binders (i.e., linkers) which tend to be attached to the cores of TDs exploiting the defect core replacement mechanism. Consequently, by varying configurations of TDs one could nucleate growth of scaled crystals displaying different symmetries. For this purpose, it is of interest to develop a simple and robust mechanism via which one could control the position and number of TDs in such atoms. In this paper, we use a minimal mesoscopic model, where variational parameters are the 2D curvature tensor and the 2D orientational tensor order parameter. We demonstrate numerically the efficiency of the effective topological defect cancellation mechanism to predict positional assembling of TDs in ordered films characterized by spatially nonhomogeneous Gaussian curvature. Furthermore, we show how one could efficiently switch among qualitatively different structures by using a relative volume v of ordered shells, which represents a relatively simple naturally accessible control parameter.
Keywords: topological defects, Gaussian curvature, self-assembling, crystal growth nucleation
Published in DKUM: 20.07.2017; Views: 1288; Downloads: 466
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4. Effective topological charge cancelation mechanismLuka Mesarec, Wojciech Góźdź, Aleš Iglič, Samo Kralj, 2016, original scientific article Abstract: Topological defects (TDs) appear almost unavoidably in continuous symmetry breaking phase transitions. The topological origin makes their key features independent of systems’ microscopic details; therefore TDs display many universalities. Because of their strong impact on numerous material properties and their significant role in several technological applications it is of strong interest to find simple and robust mechanisms controlling the positioning and local number of TDs. We present a numerical study of TDs within effectively two dimensional closed soft films exhibiting in-plane orientational ordering. Popular examples of such class of systems are liquid crystalline shells and various biological membranes. We introduce the Effective Topological Charge Cancellation mechanism controlling localised positional assembling tendency of TDs and the formation of pairs {defect, antidefect} on curved surfaces and/or presence of relevant “impurities” (e.g. nanoparticles). For this purpose, we define an effective topological charge Δmeff consisting of real, virtual and smeared curvature topological charges within a surface patch Δς identified by the typical spatially averaged local Gaussian curvature K. We demonstrate a strong tendency enforcing Δmeff → 0 on surfaces composed of Δς exhibiting significantly different values of spatially averaged K. For Δmeff ≠ 0 we estimate a critical depinning threshold to form pairs {defect, antidefect} using the electrostatic analogy.
Keywords: topological defects, topological charge, numerical studies, orientational ordering, nematic liquid crystals, liquid crystalline shells, biological membranes, nanoparticles, Gaussian curvature, electrostatic analogy, annihilation, topology
Published in DKUM: 23.06.2017; Views: 1141; Downloads: 349
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