Electric field-driven reconfigurable multistable topological defect patterns.

ABSTRACT: Topological defects appear in symmetry breaking phase transitions and are ubiquitous throughout Nature. As an ideal testbed for their study, defect configurations in nematic liquid crystals (NLCs) could be exploited in a rich variety of technological applications. Here we report on robust theoretical and experimental investigations in which an external electric field is used to switch between pre-determined stable chargeless disclination patterns in a nematic cell, where the cell is sufficiently thick that the disclinations start and terminate at the same surface. The different defect configurations are stabilised by a master substrate that enforces a lattice of surface defects exhibiting zero total topological charge value. Theoretically, we model disclination configurations using a Landa

SUBMITTER: Harkai S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8051152 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature