1. Vesiculation of biological membrane driven by curvature induced frustrations in membrane orientational orderingDalija Povše Jesenek, Šárka Perutková, Wojciech Góźdź, Veronika Kralj-Iglič, Aleš Iglič, Samo Kralj, 2013, original scientific article Abstract: Membrane budding often leads to the formation and release of microvesicles. The latter might play an important role in long distance cell-to-cell communication, owing to their ability to move with body fluids. Several mechanisms exist which might trigger the pinching off of globular buds from the parent membrane (vesiculation). In this paper, we consider the theoretical impacts of topological defects (frustrations) on this process in the membranes that exhibit global in-plane orientational order. A Landau–de Gennes theoretical approach is used in terms of tensor orientational order parameters. The impact of membrane shapes on position and the number of defects is analyzed. In studied cases, only defects with winding numbers m = ±1/2 appear, where we refer to the number of defects with m = 1/2 as defects, and with m = –1/2 as anti-defects. It is demonstrated that defects are attracted to regions with maximal positive Gaussian curvature, K. On the contrary, anti-defects are attracted to membrane regions exhibiting minimal negative values of K. We show on membrane structures exhibiting spherical topology that the coexistence of regions with K > 0 and K < 0 might trigger formation of defect–anti-defect pairs for strong enough local membrane curvatures. Critical conditions for triggering pairs are determined in several demonstrative cases. Then the additionally appeared anti-defects are assembled at the membrane neck, where K < 0. Consequent strong local fluctuations of membrane constituent anisotropic molecules might trigger membrane fission neck rupture, enabling a membrane fission process and the release of membrane daughter microvesicles (ie, vesiculation).
Keywords: structural transitions, topological defects, membrane microvesicles, membrane curvature, membrane fission, vesiculation
Published in DKUM: 03.08.2017; Views: 1339; Downloads: 433
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2. Smectic A herringbone patternsSamo Kralj, Emmanuelle Lacaze, George Cordoyiannis, Zdravko Kutnjak, 2014, published scientific conference contribution Abstract: Two qualitatively different SmA structures exhibiting herringbone-type layer patterns, to which we refer as the Defectless Smectic Herringbone (DSH) and the Dislocation Decorated Smectic Herringbone (DDSH) pattern are studied by a Landau-de Gennes-Ginzburg mesoscopic approach. Liquid crystal structures are described in terms of a nematic director field and a smectic complex order parameter. It is demonstrated that, in the proximity of the N-SmA phase transition, a melting of smectic layers could be realised even for relatively weakly-tilted smectic layers in DSH patterns (i.e. θt ≈ 100) for type I Sm4 phase. The width of melted region could be relatively large with respect to bulk values of the smectic characteristic lengths. In addition, a critical value of θt is determined at which a DDSH pattern is expected to appear.
Keywords: liquid crystals, patterns, structural transitions
Published in DKUM: 30.06.2017; Views: 2045; Downloads: 386
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3. Controlled nanoparticle targeting and nanoparticle-driven nematic structural transitionAlexander Dubtsov, Sergey V. Pasechnik, Dina V. Shmeliova, Samo Kralj, Robert Repnik, 2015, original scientific article Abstract: We study experimentally and theoretically controlled targeting of specific nanoparticles (NPs) to different regions within nematic liquid crystal. Using a simple mesoscopic Landau-de Gennes-type model in terms of a tensor nematic order parameter, we demonstrate a general mechanism which could be exploited for controlled targeting of NPs within a spatially nonhomogeneous nematic texture. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate using polarising microscopy that even a relatively low concentration of localised appropriate NPs could trigger a nematic structural transition. A simple estimate is derived to account for the observed transition.
Keywords: liquid crystals, nanoparticles, structural transitions
Published in DKUM: 14.06.2017; Views: 1942; Downloads: 377
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4. Finite-size effects on order reconstruction around nematic defectsSamo Kralj, Riccardo Rosso, Epifanio Giovanni Virga, 2010, original scientific article Abstract: By use of the Landau-de Gennes phenomenological theory, we study the texture of a nematic liquid crystal confined within a hybrid cell. Precisely, we consider cylindrically symmetric solutions containing topological defects dictated by appropriate boundary conditions. We focus our attention on cells whose dimensions are comparable with the biaxial correlation length ▫$xi_b$▫. For such severe confinements the order reconstruction (OR) configuration could be stable. Its structural details reflect the balance among boundary-enforced frustration, elastic penalties, and finite-size effects. In particular, we analyze the interplay between finite-size effects and topological defects. We show that defects are always pinned to the negatively (planar) uniaxial sheet of the OR structure. The presence of a ring defect can dramatically increase the critical threshold below which the OR structure is stable.
Keywords: physics, liquid crystals, nematic crystals, nematic defects, structural transitions
Published in DKUM: 07.06.2012; Views: 2658; Downloads: 99
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