Technological applications of discotic nematogens are limited by the robustness of the columnar phases. This investigation employs Monte Carlo simulations to explore the potentiality of tailoring specific interactions of either stacking or peripheral type in order to enhance nematic stability. It is concluded that the nematic phase is favored for discotic particles systems with homogeneous or w...

Inspired by the observations of a remarkably stable biaxial nematic phase [van den Pol et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 258301 (2009)], we investigate the effect of size polydispersity on the phase behavior of a suspension of boardlike particles. By means of Onsager theory within the restricted orientation (Zwanzig) model we show that polydispersity induces a novel topology in the phase diagram, w...

We obtain estimates for critical nematic liquid crystal (LC) temperatures under the action of a slowly varying temperature-dependent control variable. We show that biaxiality has a negligible effect within our model and that these delay estimates are well described by a purely uniaxial model. The static theory predicts two critical temperatures: the supercooling temperature below which the isot...

We use double-emulsion drops to experimentally investigate the defect structures of spherical shells of nematic liquid crystals. We uncover a rich scenario of coexisting defect structures dictated by the unavoidable finite thickness of even the thinnest shell and by the thickness variation around the sphere. These structures are characterized by a varying number of disclination lines and pairs ...

Liquid crystal containing composite fibres were produced via coaxial electrospinning, demonstrating that this technique can be used for producing new functional fibres and/or to study the impact of extreme confinement on liquid crystal phases.

We analyze the existence and stability of two-component vector solitons in nematic liquid crystals for which one of the components carries angular momentum and describes a vortex beam. We demonstrate that the nonlocal, nonlinear response can dramatically enhance the field coupling leading to the stabilization of the vortex beam when the amplitude of the second beam exceeds some threshold value....

We report on the distribution spectra of the fluctations in the amount of power injected into a liquid crystal undergoing electroconvective flow. The probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the fluc-tuations as well as the magnitude of the fluctuations have been determined in a wide range of imposed stress both for unconfined and confined flow geometries. These spectra are compared to thos...

We measured the physical characteristics of 2-million(2M)and 3-million(3M)color liquid crystal displays(LCD)whose aperture ratio was increased and compared them with conventional models. The results showed the influence of the increased aperture ratio on the physical characteristics of the LCDs. We evaluated resolution by means of modulation transfer function(MTF)and evaluated granularity by me...

We demonstrate two interferometric methods for measuring the thickness of nematic liquid crystal films with a free surface. The accuracy of either method is better than +/-1 %.