Conically degenerate anchoring effect in planar nematic-liquid-crystal shells

Impact of mesogenic aromaticity and cyano termination on the alignment and stability of liquid crystal shells

“…Microfluidics-produced liquid crystal (LC) shells, i.e., double emulsions in which a thin spherical layer of liquid crystal is confined between internal and external isotropic phases, 1,2 constitute an exquisite platform for studying numerous intriguing physics phenomena related to, e.g., spherical topology and topological defect configurations, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] the balance between two-and three-dimensional ordering and between positive and negative curvature, 8,14,15 phase separation, 15,16 as well as peculiar optical phenomena. 17,18 They also hold potential for various applications, in particular when using elastomeric, 19,20 photoresponsive 21 or cholesteric liquid crystals.…”