Regensburg 2022 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 23: Complex Fluids and Soft Matter 1 (joint session DY/CPP)

DY 23.8: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 7. September 2022, 11:30–11:45, H18

Particle-resolved topological defects of smectic colloidal liquid crystals in 2d confinement — •René Wittmann¹, Paul A. Monderkamp¹, Louis B. G. Cortes^2,3, Dirk G. A. L. Aarts³, Frank Smallenburg⁴, and Hartmut Löwen¹ — ¹Institut für Theoretische Physik II: Weiche Materie, Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf, Germany — ²School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, USA — ³Department of Chemistry, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, UK — ⁴Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, France

We present a general classification scheme [1] of the intrinsic structure of smectic colloidal liquid crystals in two spatial dimensions, dictated by the interplay between the intrinsic layering and the externally imposed boundary structure. Thereby, we demonstrate that topological defects emerge in the form of spatially extended grain-boundaries, which are characterized by coexisting nematic and tetratic orientational order. We examine these intriguing topological properties on the particle scale by means of Monte-Carlo simulations, fundamental-measure-based density functional theory and real-space microscopy of colloidal rods. The structural details agree on a quantitative level. In particular, we analyze the typical shape of grain-boundary networks in a large range of polygonal confinements [1] and the stability of different competing topological states in nontrivial domains with additional interior boundaries [2].

[1] P. A. Monderkamp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 198001 (2021).

[2] R. Wittmann et al., Nat. Commun. 12, 623 (2021).