Abstract
Freely suspended films in the smectic C phase are excellent templates for the study of topological defect dynamics. It is well known that, during the annihilation of a pair of disclinations with strengths +/−1, the +1 defect moves faster because it is carried towards its opponent by backflow, whereas the flow in the vicinity of the −1 defect is negligibly small. This backflow pattern is created by the defect motion itself. An experimental confirmation of this theoretical prediction and its quantitative characterization is achieved here by fluorescence labeling. Film regions near the defect positions are labeled and their displacements are tracked optically.
Highlights
Topological defects are a natural feature of condensed matter systems with broken continuous symmetries [1]
Topological defects created by symmetry-breaking phase transitions have received considerable attention in particle physics, condensed matter physics, and even cosmology [18]
We show that the annihilation of a defect pair with the strengths ±1 is accompanied by strong material flow in the film plane, which speeds up the velocity of the +1 defect
Summary
Topological defects are a natural feature of condensed matter systems with broken continuous symmetries [1] They occur in such disparate systems as crystals [2,3,4], superfluid helium [5,6], in colloidal systems [7,8,9,10,11], and liquid crystals [10,11,12,13,14]. Topological defects created by symmetry-breaking phase transitions have received considerable attention in particle physics, condensed matter physics, and even cosmology [18]. They determine the mechanical properties and the response of solid materials, and they can serve as building blocks determining the structure of liquid crystal blue phases [19] and twist-grain-boundary phases
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