Making Smectic Defect Patterns Electrically Reversible and Dynamically Tunable Using In Situ Polymer‐Templated Nematic Liquid Crystals

Boniello, Giuseppe; Vilchez, Victoria; Garre, Emmanuel; Mondiot, Frédéric

doi:10.1002/marc.202100087

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Additionally, the polymer stabilization strategy can be further extended to other smectic configurations, such as oily streaks [ 33 ] and deformed FCDs. [ 34 ] This work widens our knowledge of self‐organized configurations and explores the practical application of such TFCD‐based MLA, which can also be extended to other optical scenarios.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrically Tunable Microlens Array Enabled by Polymer‐Stabilized Smectic Hierarchical Architectures

Cao

et al. 2022

Advanced Optical Materials

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Liquid crystals (LCs) are key functional materials that are broadly adopted in various fields due to their stimuli‐responsiveness. Recently, LCs with hierarchical architectures have brought new effects to optics and attracted intensive attention. In smectic A phase, the parallel molecular layers are periodically wrapped to form toric focal conic domains (TFCDs) under antagonistic boundary conditions (i.e., hybrid alignment conditions). TFCD shows great potential in nanofabrication and integral imaging. However, the arbitrary tailoring of TFCD is still challenging, and the robustness of hierarchical configuration hinders the tunability. Here, a radial alignment lattice is adopted to guide the local orientation of LCs and thus facilitates predefining the lattice symmetry and domain size of TFCDs. By introducing polymer stabilization and optimizing the composition, the sample simultaneously maintains the director distribution inside smectic layers and possesses the stimuli‐responsiveness of nematic phase at room temperature. By this means, microlens arrays are demonstrated with reversible electrical tunability. The strategy can be extended to other smectic configurations and may upgrade existing dynamic optics.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrically Tunable Microlens Array Enabled by Polymer‐Stabilized Smectic Hierarchical Architectures

Cao

et al. 2022

Advanced Optical Materials

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“…Smectic textures in three dimensions can be complex 81 , appealing 82 and difficult to model 31 . The tensor theory could be extended to simulate patterned defect arrays through programmable photoalignment 83 , electrically reversible templating 84 and micropatterned substrates 18 . Much like the introduction of Q helped expand the possibilities for numerical modeling of nematics, we expect this framework to be advantageous for simulating colloidal smectics 82,[85][86][87][88][89][90] , smectic-isotropic interfaces 91,92 , smectic-smectic emulsions 93 , smectics in contact with active material 94 and swimming bacteria in smectics 95 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex-tensor theory of simple smectics

et al. 2023

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Matter self-assembling into layers generates unique properties, including structures of stacked surfaces, directed transport, and compact area maximization that can be highly functionalized in biology and technology. Smectics represent the paradigm of such lamellar materials — they are a state between fluids and solids, characterized by both orientational and partial positional ordering in one layering direction, making them notoriously difficult to model, particularly in confining geometries. We propose a complex tensor order parameter to describe the local degree of lamellar ordering, layer displacement and orientation of the layers for simple, lamellar smectics. The theory accounts for both dislocations and disclinations, by regularizing singularities within defect cores and so remaining continuous everywhere. The ability to describe disclinations and dislocation allows this theory to simulate arrested configurations and inclusion-induced local ordering. This tensorial theory for simple smectics considerably simplifies numerics, facilitating studies on the mesoscopic structure of topologically complex systems.

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“…The study of SLC sublimation was recently explicated by Vitral et al 106 on smectic-isotropic interfaces. In addition, Boniello et al 107 proposed electrically reversible and dynamically tunable defect patterns in polymer-stabilized SLCs, which overcomes the long-term intractable challenge, i.e., the highly ordered SLC is essentially irreversible under electric fields, Fig. 5d .…”

Section: Typical Thermotropic Liquid Crystal Architecturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 105 , with permission from Springer Nature: Nature Communications. d Electrically reversible tuning of smectic FCDs 107 . Reproduced from ref.…”

Section: Typical Thermotropic Liquid Crystal Architecturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-assembled liquid crystal architectures for soft matter photonics

Pan

et al. 2022

Light Sci Appl

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Self-assembled architectures of soft matter have fascinated scientists for centuries due to their unique physical properties originated from controllable orientational and/or positional orders, and diverse optic and photonic applications. If one could know how to design, fabricate, and manipulate these optical microstructures in soft matter systems, such as liquid crystals (LCs), that would open new opportunities in both scientific research and practical applications, such as the interaction between light and soft matter, the intrinsic assembly of the topological patterns, and the multidimensional control of the light (polarization, phase, spatial distribution, propagation direction). Here, we summarize recent progresses in self-assembled optical architectures in typical thermotropic LCs and bio-based lyotropic LCs. After briefly introducing the basic definitions and properties of the materials, we present the manipulation schemes of various LC microstructures, especially the topological and topographic configurations. This work further illustrates external-stimuli-enabled dynamic controllability of self-assembled optical structures of these soft materials, and demonstrates several emerging applications. Lastly, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of these materials towards soft matter photonics, and envision future perspectives in this field.

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Making Smectic Defect Patterns Electrically Reversible and Dynamically Tunable Using In Situ Polymer‐Templated Nematic Liquid Crystals

Cited by 6 publications

References 36 publications

Electrically Tunable Microlens Array Enabled by Polymer‐Stabilized Smectic Hierarchical Architectures

Electrically Tunable Microlens Array Enabled by Polymer‐Stabilized Smectic Hierarchical Architectures

Complex-tensor theory of simple smectics

Self-assembled liquid crystal architectures for soft matter photonics

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