Gyroid phase of fluids with spherically symmetric competing interactions

Abstract

We study the phase diagram of a fluid with spherically symmetric competing pair interactions that consist of a short-ranged attraction and a longer-ranged repulsion in addition to a hard core. To this end we perform free minimizations of three-dimensional triple periodic structures within the framework of classical density functional theory. We compare our results to those from Landau theory. Our main finding is that the double gyroid phase can exist as a thermodynamically stable phase.