Watching defects flow and grow

Abstract

Liquid Crystals Orientational topological defects in liquid crystals, known as disclinations, have been visualized in polymeric materials or through mesoscale simulations of the local orientation of the molecules. Duclos et al. report the experimental visualization of the structure and dynamics of disclination loops in active, three-dimensional nematics using light-sheet microscopy to watch the motion of nematic molecules driven by the motion of microtubule bundles (see the Perspective by Bartolo). This setup makes it possible to directly watch the nucleation, deformation, recombination, and collapse of spatially extended topological defects in three dimensions. Science , this issue p. [1120][1]; see also p. [1075][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaz4547 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aba5319