Commensurate States and Pattern Switching via Liquid Crystal Skyrmions Trapped in a Square Lattice
arXiv:1911.10270 · doi:10.1039/C9SM02312G
Abstract
Using continuum based simulations we show that a rich variety of skyrmion liquid crystal states can be realized in the presence of a periodic obstacle array. As a function of the number of skyrmions per obstacle we find hexagonal, square, dimer, trimer and quadrimer ordering, where the -mer structures are a realization of a molecular crystal state of skyrmions. As a function of external field and obstacle radius we show that there are transitions between the different crystalline states as well as mixed and disordered structures. We discuss how these states are related to commensurate effects seen in other systems, such as vortices in type-II superconductors and colloids interacting with two dimensional substrates.
arXiv comment5 pages, 4 figures
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- Review: Topology of solitons and singular defects in chiral liquid crystals
- Skyrmion Spin Ice in Liquid Crystals
- Cholesteric shells: two-dimensional blue fog and finite quasicrystals
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- Directed Motion of Liquid Crystal Skyrmions With Oscillating Fields
- Magnus Induced Diode Effect for Skyrmions in Channels with Periodic Potentials
- Pattern Formation and Transport for Externally Driven Active Matter on Periodic Substrates
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- Alignment induced re-configurable walls for patterning and assembly of liquid crystal skyrmions
- Skyrmion Pinball and Directed Motion on Obstacle Arrays
- The Concept of Spin Ice Graphs and a Field Theory for their Topological Monopoles and Charges