We explore periodic structures of smectic-C (SmC) liquid crystals, induced optically by a polarization grating. The studied cells contain a passive surface of rubbed polyimide and an active photosensitive substrate of azo-dye doped polyimide. In a nematic phase the director field can be periodic independent of the angle between the grating vector and the rubbing direction. In the SmA phase peri...

A review is given of liquid crystals formed in colloidal dispersions, in particular those consisting of mineral particles. Starting with the historical development and early theory, the characteristic properties related to the colloidal nature of this type of liquid crystals are discussed. The possibility to find biaxial nematic and smectic phases is described for mixtures of rods and plates an...

Active fluids and growing interfaces are two well-studied but very different non-equilibrium systems. Each exhibits non-equilibrium behaviour distinct from that of their equilibrium counterparts. Here we demonstrate a surprising connection between these two: the ordered phase of incompressible polar active fluids in two spatial dimensions without momentum conservation, and growing one-dimension...

We investigate translocation mechanisms in smectic A liquid crystals (LCs) by a realistic, coarse-grained model of a LC compound comprising a stiff azobenzene core with flexible tails. We observe that the molecules can permeate from one smectic layer to the next via two different mechanisms, with and without significant reorientation, the former being facilitated through transverse interlayer i...

We study nematic equilibria on a square with tangent Dirichlet conditions on the edges, in three different modelling frameworks: (i) the off-lattice Hard Gaussian Overlap and Gay–Berne models; (ii) the lattice-based Lebwohl–Lasher model; and the (iii) two-dimensional Landau-de Gennes model. We compare the modelling predictions, identify regimes of agreement and in the Landaude Gennes case, find...

Nowadays, chemically synthesized proteins and peptides are attractive building blocks and have potential in many important applications as biomaterials. In this review, applications of biomaterials to thermotropic liquid crystals are discussed. The review covers the improvement of the performance of liquid crystal displays using liquid crystal physical gels consisting of a liquid crystal and am...

We report a pitch invariance in cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) independent of temperature by mixing two chiral dopants. One dopant tends to shorten the helical pitch of the CLC, but the other makes the pitch longer, with increasing temperatures. From an analysis of temperature dependencies of the pitch for each dopant, we determined the mixing ratio of two chiral dopants for the pitch invar...