Topological defects in cholesteric liquid crystals induced by monolayer domains with orientational chirality

Soft Matter. 2014 Nov 7;10(41):8163-70. doi: 10.1039/c4sm00872c.

Abstract

Unless stabilized by colloids or confinement with well-defined boundary conditions, defects in liquid crystals remain elusive short-lived objects that tend to disappear with time to minimize the medium's free energy. In this work we use multimodal three-dimensional imaging to visualize cholesteric director structures to show that self-assembled chiral molecular monolayer domains can stabilize topologically constrained defect configurations when in contact with a cholesteric liquid crystal. The cholesteric liquid crystal, having features of both coarse-grained lamellar and nematic liquid crystal with chiral symmetry breaking, allows us to explore the interplay of chirality and implications of layering on the formed defects and director configurations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.