Moiré effect enables versatile design of topological defects in nematic liquid crystals

Xinyu Wang, Jinghua Jiang, Juan Chen, Zhawure Asilehan, Wentao Tang, Chenhui Peng () and Rui Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Xinyu Wang: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Jinghua Jiang: University of Science and Technology of China
Juan Chen: University of Science and Technology of China
Zhawure Asilehan: University of Science and Technology of China
Wentao Tang: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Chenhui Peng: University of Science and Technology of China
Rui Zhang: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Recent advances in surface-patterning techniques of liquid crystals have enabled the precise creation of topological defects, which promise a variety of emergent applications. However, the manipulation and application of these defects remain limited. Here, we harness the moiré effect to engineer topological defects in patterned nematic liquid crystal cells. Specifically, we combine simulation and experiment to examine a nematic cell confined between two substrates of periodic surface anchoring patterns; by rotating one surface against the other, we observe a rich variety of highly tunable, novel topological defects. These defects are shown to guide the three-dimensional self-assembly of colloids, which can conversely impact defects by preventing the self-annihilation of loop-defects through jamming. Finally, we demonstrate that certain nematic moiré cells can engender arbitrary shapes represented by defect regions. As such, the proposed simple twist method enables the design and tuning of mesoscopic structures in liquid crystals, facilitating applications including defect-directed self-assembly, material transport, micro-reactors, photonic devices, and anti-counterfeiting materials.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45529-z Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-45529-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45529-z

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().