Topological steering of light by nematic vortices and analogy to cosmic strings

Meng, Cuiling; Wu, Jin-Sheng; Smalyukh, Ivan I.

doi:10.1038/s41563-022-01414-y

Cited by 35 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…It will be interesting to decipher the director structure after the particles are trapped along the line defect in our experimental setup by using nonlinear imaging systems ( 50 , 51 ). Since disclination lines formed by different topological patterns adopt a variety of topological structures ( 40 , 45 , 52 , 53 ) and rich topologies have been demonstrated by disclination lines interacting with colloids ( 30 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 55 ), it will be intriguing to study how the coupled topological structures change during spatiotemporal reconfiguration processes in the future.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collective transport and reconfigurable assembly of nematic colloids by light-driven cooperative molecular reorientations

Jiang

Wang

Akomolafe

et al. 2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Nanomotors in nature have inspired scientists to design synthetic molecular motors to drive the motion of microscale objects by cooperative action. Light-driven molecular motors have been synthesized, but using their cooperative reorganization to control the collective transport of colloids and to realize the reconfiguration of colloidal assembly remains a challenge. In this work, topological vortices are imprinted in the monolayers of azobenzene molecules which further interface with nematic liquid crystals (LCs). The light-driven cooperative reorientations of the azobenzene molecules induce the collective motion of LC molecules and thus the spatiotemporal evolutions of the nematic disclination networks which are defined by the controlled patterns of vortices. Continuum simulations provide physical insight into the morphology change of the disclination networks. When microcolloids are dispersed in the LC medium, the colloidal assembly is not only transported and reconfigured by the collective change of the disclination lines but also controlled by the elastic energy landscape defined by the predesigned orientational patterns. The collective transport and reconfiguration of colloidal assemblies can also be programmed by manipulating the irradiated polarization. This work opens opportunities to design programmable colloidal machines and smart composite materials.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collective transport and reconfigurable assembly of nematic colloids by light-driven cooperative molecular reorientations

Jiang

Wang

Akomolafe

et al. 2023

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…This observation may help establish solitonic structures in chiral LCs as model systems to study not only the topological solitons in various experimentally inaccessible physical systems, but also to use them to model behavior of polymers and both equilibrium and active matter systems made from semi-flexible chain-like building blocks. The fact that the LC’s director is also the optical axis in these birefringent soft matter systems will allow designing such spatially localized structures as versatile reconfigurable beam deflectors, steerers 5 and lasing elements 48 and microcargo transporters 49 . Since the director field of all observed configurations can be smoothly vectorized, they can also emerge as stable or meta-stable configurations in the solid-state chiral magnetic systems with similar Hamiltonians 50 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent advances in understanding light-matter interactions and topology allow for designing various artificial media, called metamaterials, assembled of pre-engineered atom-like building blocks 1 – 5 . Metamaterials often help to overcome limitations of properties of the natural matter 1 – 4 ; however, known designs target only very specific physical properties, typically in a narrow range of the parameter space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topological solitonic macromolecules

Zhao,

Malomed,

Smalyukh

2023

Nat Commun

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Being ubiquitous, solitons have particle-like properties, exhibiting behaviour often associated with atoms. Bound solitons emulate dynamics of molecules, though solitonic analogues of polymeric materials have not been considered yet. Here we experimentally create and model soliton polymers, which we call “polyskyrmionomers”, built of atom-like individual solitons characterized by the topological invariant representing the skyrmion number. With the help of nonlinear optical imaging and numerical modelling based on minimizing the free energy, we reveal how topological point defects bind the solitonic quasi-atoms into polyskyrmionomers, featuring linear, branched, and other macromolecule-resembling architectures, as well as allowing for encoding data by spatial distributions of the skyrmion number. Application of oscillating electric fields activates diverse modes of locomotion and internal vibrations of these self-assembled soliton structures, which depend on symmetry of the solitonic macromolecules. Our findings suggest new designs of soliton meta matter, with a potential for the use in fundamental research and technology.

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“…The study of line defects in three-dimensional nematic phases, known as disclinations, has gained considerable interest recently following advances in both experimental diagnostics and computational methods [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Disclinations and their motion have found applications in microfluidics, colloidal self-assembly, surface actuation, optical control and active and biological matter [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Recent theoretical research has also advanced our understanding of disclinations, including measures of their topology and geometry, as well as analytical results for disclination kinematics [17][18][19][20][21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A tensor density measure of topological charge in three-dimensional nematic phases

Schimming,

Vinals

2024

Proc. R. Soc. A.

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A path-independent measure in order parameter space is introduced such that, when integrated along any closed contour in a three-dimensional nematic phase, it yields the topological charge of any line defects encircled by the contour. A related measure, when integrated over either closed or open surfaces, reduces to known results for the charge associated with point defects (hedgehogs) or Skyrmions. We further define a tensor density, the disclination density tensor D , from which the location of a disclination line can be determined. This tensor density has a dyadic decomposition near the line into its tangent and its rotation vector, allowing a convenient determination of both. The tensor D may be non-zero in special configurations in which there are no defects (double-splay or double-twist configurations), and its behaviour there is provided. The special cases of Skyrmions and hedgehog defects are also examined, including the computation of their topological charge from D .

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Topological steering of light by nematic vortices and analogy to cosmic strings

Cited by 35 publications

References 70 publications

Collective transport and reconfigurable assembly of nematic colloids by light-driven cooperative molecular reorientations

Collective transport and reconfigurable assembly of nematic colloids by light-driven cooperative molecular reorientations

Topological solitonic macromolecules

A tensor density measure of topological charge in three-dimensional nematic phases

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