Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ackerman PJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3369196 | biostudies-literature | 2012
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Ackerman Paul J PJ Qi Zhiyuan Z Lin Yiheng Y Twombly Christopher W CW Laviada Mauricio J MJ Lansac Yves Y Smalyukh Ivan I II
Scientific reports 20120607
Topological defect lines are ubiquitous and important in a wide variety of fascinating phenomena and theories in many fields ranging from materials science to early-universe cosmology, and to engineering of laser beams. However, they are typically hard to control in a reliable manner. Here we describe facile erasable "optical drawing" of self-assembled defect clusters in liquid crystals. These quadrupolar defect clusters, stabilized by the medium's chirality and the tendency to form twisted conf ...[more]