Stable nematic droplets with handles

E. Pairam; J. Vallamkondu; P.W. Ellis; A. Fernandez-Nieves; V. Koning; B.C. Van Zuiden; V. Vitelli; M.A. Bates

doi:10.1073/pnas.1221380110

Stable nematic droplets with handles

E. Pairam, J. Vallamkondu, P.W. Ellis, A. Fernandez-Nieves, V. Koning, B.C. Van Zuiden, V. Vitelli, M.A. Bates

Chemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We stabilize nematic droplets with handles against surface tension-driven instabilities, using a yield-stress material as outer fluid, and study the complex nematic textures and defect structures that result from the competition between topological constraints and the elasticity of the nematic liquid crystal. We uncover a surprisingly persistent twisted configuration of the nematic director inside the droplets when tangential anchoring is established at their boundaries, which we explain after considering the influence of saddle splay on the elastic free energy. For toroidal droplets, we find that the saddle-splay energy screens the twisting energy, resulting in a spontaneous breaking of mirror symmetry; the chiral twisted state persists for aspect ratios as large as ~20. For droplets with additional handles, we observe in experiments and computer simulations that there are two additional -1 surface defects per handle; these are located in regions with local saddle geometry to minimize the nematic distortions and hence the corresponding elastic free energy.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	9295-9300
Number of pages	6
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	110
Issue number	23
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221380110
Publication status	Published - 4 Jun 2013

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title = "Stable nematic droplets with handles",

abstract = "We stabilize nematic droplets with handles against surface tension-driven instabilities, using a yield-stress material as outer fluid, and study the complex nematic textures and defect structures that result from the competition between topological constraints and the elasticity of the nematic liquid crystal. We uncover a surprisingly persistent twisted configuration of the nematic director inside the droplets when tangential anchoring is established at their boundaries, which we explain after considering the influence of saddle splay on the elastic free energy. For toroidal droplets, we find that the saddle-splay energy screens the twisting energy, resulting in a spontaneous breaking of mirror symmetry; the chiral twisted state persists for aspect ratios as large as ~20. For droplets with additional handles, we observe in experiments and computer simulations that there are two additional -1 surface defects per handle; these are located in regions with local saddle geometry to minimize the nematic distortions and hence the corresponding elastic free energy.",

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AU - Pairam, E.

AU - Vallamkondu, J.

AU - Ellis, P.W.

AU - Fernandez-Nieves, A.

AU - Koning, V.

AU - Van Zuiden, B.C.

AU - Vitelli, V.

AU - Bates, M.A.

PY - 2013/6/4

Y1 - 2013/6/4

N2 - We stabilize nematic droplets with handles against surface tension-driven instabilities, using a yield-stress material as outer fluid, and study the complex nematic textures and defect structures that result from the competition between topological constraints and the elasticity of the nematic liquid crystal. We uncover a surprisingly persistent twisted configuration of the nematic director inside the droplets when tangential anchoring is established at their boundaries, which we explain after considering the influence of saddle splay on the elastic free energy. For toroidal droplets, we find that the saddle-splay energy screens the twisting energy, resulting in a spontaneous breaking of mirror symmetry; the chiral twisted state persists for aspect ratios as large as ~20. For droplets with additional handles, we observe in experiments and computer simulations that there are two additional -1 surface defects per handle; these are located in regions with local saddle geometry to minimize the nematic distortions and hence the corresponding elastic free energy.

AB - We stabilize nematic droplets with handles against surface tension-driven instabilities, using a yield-stress material as outer fluid, and study the complex nematic textures and defect structures that result from the competition between topological constraints and the elasticity of the nematic liquid crystal. We uncover a surprisingly persistent twisted configuration of the nematic director inside the droplets when tangential anchoring is established at their boundaries, which we explain after considering the influence of saddle splay on the elastic free energy. For toroidal droplets, we find that the saddle-splay energy screens the twisting energy, resulting in a spontaneous breaking of mirror symmetry; the chiral twisted state persists for aspect ratios as large as ~20. For droplets with additional handles, we observe in experiments and computer simulations that there are two additional -1 surface defects per handle; these are located in regions with local saddle geometry to minimize the nematic distortions and hence the corresponding elastic free energy.

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Stable nematic droplets with handles

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