16 papers
Broken Inversion Symmetry via a Magic Methyl Effect
Calum J Gibb, Jordan Hobbs, Caitlin O Brien +4
Polar liquid crystals - fluid phases in which molecular dipoles organise into ferro- or antiferroelectric states - present a highly constrained molecular design space, where small…
Direct visualization of local electric fields in a layer of a ferroelectric nematic liquid
Anej Sterle, Natan Osterman, Calum J. Gibb +4
Ferroelectric nematic liquids exhibit complex ferroelectric domains shaped by competing elastic and electrostatic interactions. Using fluorescence and polarizing optical microscopy…
Exotic topological defects and director fields in free-floating spherical ferroelectric nematic liquid crystal shells
Churchill B. Agoni, Ema Pilih, Luka Cmok +5
Ferroelectric nematic (NF) liquid crystals exhibit polar symmetry and large polarization, giving rise to phenomena absent in conventional apolar nematics. We investigate NF liquid…
Flexoelectricity-driven softening of bend elasticity leads to spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in a polar fluid
Aitor Erkoreka, Josu Martinez-Perdiguero, Luka Cmok +6
The origin of recently observed spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in polar fluids is an unsolved problem, and poses fundamental questions as to how heliconical structures emerge…
Elasticity-Driven Periodic Polarization Patterns in Confined Chiral Ferroelectric Nematic Fluid
Anej Sterle, Peter Medle-Rupnik, Luka Cmok +9
Ferroelectric nematic phases are a new class of polar fluids in which spontaneous polarization is directly coupled to the orientational order, providing unique opportunities for cr…
Deep learning directed synthesis of fluid ferroelectric materials
Charles Parton-Barr, Stuart R. Berrow, Calum J. Gibb +6
Fluid ferroelectrics, a recently discovered class of liquid crystals that exhibit switchable, long-range polar order, offer opportunities in ultrafast electro-optic technologies, r…