Abstract
Topological defects are a consequence of broken symmetry in ordered systems and are important for understanding a wide variety of phenomena in physics. In liquid crystals (LCs), defects exist as points of discontinuous order in the vector field that describes the average orientation of the molecules in space and are crucial for explaining the fundamental behaviour and properties of these mesophases. Recently, LC defects have also been explored from the perspective of technological applications including self-assembly of nanomaterials, optical-vortex generation and in tunable plasmonic metamaterials. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication and stabilisation of electrically-tunable defects in an LC device using two-photon polymerisation and explore the dynamic behaviour of defects when confined by polymer structures laser-written in topologically discontinuous states. We anticipate that our defect fabrication technique will enable the realisation of tunable, 3D, reconfigurable LC templates towards nanoparticle self-assembly, tunable metamaterials and next-generation spatial light modulators for light-shaping.
Highlights
Topological defects are a consequence of broken symmetry in ordered systems and are important for understanding a wide variety of phenomena in physics
In this study we use liquid crystals (LCs) pi-cell devices, which enable electricaladdressing of a layer of nematic LC aligned between parallelrubbed glass substrates[29]
Applying a voltage initially causes the alignment to distort, forming first an asymmetric homogeneous splay state (H-state) (“Hastate”) and, as the voltage is increased above a critical voltage, Vc, the bend state (“V-state”) (Supplementary Fig. 1a)
Summary
Topological defects are a consequence of broken symmetry in ordered systems and are important for understanding a wide variety of phenomena in physics. In liquid crystals (LCs), defects exist as points of discontinuous order in the vector field that describes the average orientation of the molecules in space and are crucial for explaining the fundamental behaviour and properties of these mesophases. We demonstrate the fabrication and stabilisation of electrically-tunable defects in an LC device using two-photon polymerisation and explore the dynamic behaviour of defects when confined by polymer structures laser-written in topologically discontinuous states. It has been crucial to the development of understanding in the topology of materials that the mathematics used to describe the formation and evolution of topological defects can be transferred across different length-scales and between different disciplines To this end, defects in liquid crystals (LCs) have been investigated as highly-analogous laboratory systems for studying both superconductivity[2] and the evolution of the early-universe[5]. By translating the sample with respect to the focus of the laser, fine structures can be fabricated in 3D, with the possibility of achieving a resolution below the optical diffraction limit[25,26]
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.