Topology of Orientational Defects in Confined Smectic Liquid Crystals

We propose a general formalism to characterize orientational frustration of smectic liquid crystals in confinement by interpreting the emerging networks of grain boundaries as objects with a topological charge. In a formal idealization, this charge is distributed in pointlike units of quarter-intege...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2021-11, Vol.127 (19), p.198001-198001, Article 198001
Main Authors: Monderkamp, Paul A., Wittmann, René, Cortes, Louis B. G., Aarts, Dirk G. A. L., Smallenburg, Frank, Löwen, Hartmut
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed Matter
Confining
Crystal defects
Crystal structure
Disclinations
Grain boundaries
Networks
Nodes
Physics
Smectic liquid crystals
Smoothness
Soft Condensed Matter
Topology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We propose a general formalism to characterize orientational frustration of smectic liquid crystals in confinement by interpreting the emerging networks of grain boundaries as objects with a topological charge. In a formal idealization, this charge is distributed in pointlike units of quarter-integer magnitude, which we identify with tetratic disclinations located at the end points and nodes. This coexisting nematic and tetratic order is analyzed with the help of extensive Monte Carlo simulations for a broad range of two-dimensional confining geometries as well as colloidal experiments, showing how the observed defect networks can be universally reconstructed from simple building blocks. We further find that the curvature of the confining wall determines the anchoring behavior of grain boundaries, such that the number of nodes in the emerging networks and the location of their end points can be tuned by changing the number and smoothness of corners, respectively.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.198001