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Full-Text Articles in Physics
Ordering And Self-Diffusion In The 1st Molecular Layer At A Liquid-Crystal Polymer Interface, G. P. Crawford, Deng-Ke Yang, S. Zumer, D. Finotello, J. William Doane
Ordering And Self-Diffusion In The 1st Molecular Layer At A Liquid-Crystal Polymer Interface, G. P. Crawford, Deng-Ke Yang, S. Zumer, D. Finotello, J. William Doane
Deng-Ke Yang
H-2 NMR of a liquid crystal confined to submicron cylindrical cavities, in a 17-K interval above the nematic-isotropic transition, reveals a weakly orientationally ordered molecular layer at the cavity wall governed by local interactions. The order (S0 = 0.02) is temperature independent so that a partial wetting is realized with no prewetting transition expected. A molecular exchange rate between the surface layer and the bulk is measured to be approximately 10(3) s-1. The coherence length measuring the order penetrating further into the cavity is described by alpha = 0.4 and xi-0 = 0.6 nm.
Monte Carlo Simulations Of Stable Point Defects In Hybrid Nematic Films, C. Chiccoli, Oleg Lavrentovich, P. Pasini, C. Zannoni
Monte Carlo Simulations Of Stable Point Defects In Hybrid Nematic Films, C. Chiccoli, Oleg Lavrentovich, P. Pasini, C. Zannoni
Oleg Lavrentovich
Monte Carlo (MC) simulations based exclusively on nearest-neighbor intermolecular interactions reveal the existence of stable long-range deformations and topological defects in a thin nematic film confined between two surfaces with antagonistic (normal and tangential) molecular orientations. Thus the MC technique allows one to describe a delicate balance of bulk elasticity and surface energy usually treated only with macroscopic theories.
Critical Behavior At The Nematic To Lamellar Phase Transitions: A Synchrotron X-Ray Scattering Study, S. T. Shin, J. D. Brock, Mark Sutton, J. D. Lister, Satyendra Kumar
Critical Behavior At The Nematic To Lamellar Phase Transitions: A Synchrotron X-Ray Scattering Study, S. T. Shin, J. D. Brock, Mark Sutton, J. D. Lister, Satyendra Kumar
Satyendra Kumar
The nematic (N) to lamellar (Lα) phase transition in binary mixtures of cesium-perfluoro-octanoate (CsPFO) and water has been studied by high-resolution synchrotron x-ray scattering at 46.6 weight % CsPFO. The longitudinal correlation length ξ∥ and the susceptibility σ associated with the lamellar phase fluctuations in the N phase, measured over three decades of reduced temperature, diverge with critical exponents ν∥=0.86±0.04 and γ=1.37±0.11, respectively. These results show that the N to Lα phase transition is quantitatively similar to the N to smectic-A phase transition of thermotropic liquid crystals with a wider nematic range.
Morphology Transition In Lipid Vesicles Due To In-Plane Order And Topological Defects, Linda S. Hirst, Adam Ossowski, Matthew Fraser, Jun Geng, Jonathan Selinger, Robin Selinger
Morphology Transition In Lipid Vesicles Due To In-Plane Order And Topological Defects, Linda S. Hirst, Adam Ossowski, Matthew Fraser, Jun Geng, Jonathan Selinger, Robin Selinger
Robin Selinger
Complex morphologies in lipid membranes typically arise due to chemical heterogeneity, but in the tilted gel phase, complex shapes can form spontaneously even in a membrane containing only a single lipid component. We explore this phenomenon via experiments and coarse-grained simulations on giant unilamellar vesicles of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine. When cooled from the untilted L-alpha liquid-crystalline phase into the L-beta, tilted gel phase, vesicles deform from smooth spheres to disordered, highly crumpled shapes. We propose that this shape evolution is driven by nucleation of complex membrane microstructure with topological defects in the tilt orientation that induce nonuniform membrane curvature. Coarse-grained simulations demonstrate …