13 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…
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…
Polarization Plasticity of Ferroelectric Nematics: a case of Electrostatic Frustration in Simple Planar Electrode Cells
Stefano Marni, Federico Caimi, Luca Casiraghi +5
Because of their spontaneous bulk polarization, ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals can be easily brought by surface coupling or confinement in a state in which the accumulation…