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SUMMARY:Spontaneous structures driven by electrostatics and elasticity in 
 ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals
DTSTART:20261013T203000Z
DTEND:20261013T223000Z
DTSTAMP:20261013T210500Z
UID:indico-event-339@eventreg.ads.ttu.edu
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Maxim Lavrentovich (Worcester State University)\n\nL
 iquid crystals provide an accessible setting in which local interactions c
 an produce complex structures on much larger length scales. Ferroelectric 
 nematic liquid crystals add a new ingredient: in addition to orientational
  order\, they possess a macroscopic electric polarization. This polarizati
 on fundamentally changes the physics. A spatially uniform polarized state 
 can generate costly depolarization fields\, while avoiding these fields re
 quires distortions of the liquid-crystal orientation and therefore costs e
 lastic energy.  I will discuss how competition between long-range electro
 statics and nematic elasticity produces a remarkable variety of structures
 . Films of the material spontaneously develop left- and right-handed twist
 s of the polarization\, producing chiral domains despite the absence of mo
 lecular chirality. The same competition gives rise to solitonic domain wal
 ls\, stripes of alternating polarization\, and radial sector-like domains.
  In droplets\, confinement and topology lead to hyperbolic hedgehog defect
 s that reorganize the polarization field and reduce costly splay deformati
 ons. Together\, these structures show how geometry\, boundary conditions\,
  topology\, and electrostatics select patterns in these unusual soft mater
 ials.\n\nhttps://eventreg.ads.ttu.edu/event/339/
LOCATION:234 (Science)
URL:https://eventreg.ads.ttu.edu/event/339/
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