First order alignment transition in an interfaced active nematic

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Bantysh, Olga, Nambisan, Jyothishraj, Martínez-Prat, Berta, Fernández-Nieves, Alberto, Sagués, Francesc, Ignés-Mullol, Jordi
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2023
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author Bantysh, Olga
Nambisan, Jyothishraj
Martínez-Prat, Berta
Fernández-Nieves, Alberto
Sagués, Francesc
Ignés-Mullol, Jordi
author_facet Bantysh, Olga
Nambisan, Jyothishraj
Martínez-Prat, Berta
Fernández-Nieves, Alberto
Sagués, Francesc
Ignés-Mullol, Jordi
contents We investigate experimentally the dynamic phase transition of a two-dimensional active nematic layer interfaced with a passive liquid crystal. Under a temperature ramp that leads to the transition of the passive liquid into a highly anisotropic lamellar smectic-A phase, and in the presence of a magnetic field, the coupled active nematic reorganizes its flow and orientational patterns from the turbulent into a quasi-laminar regime aligned perpendicularly to the field. Remarkably, while the phase transition of the passive fluid is known to be continuous, our observations reveal intermittent dynamics of the order parameter and the coexistence of aligned and turbulent regions in the active nematic, a signature of discontinuous, or first order, phase transitions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2303_05589
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle First order alignment transition in an interfaced active nematic
Bantysh, Olga
Nambisan, Jyothishraj
Martínez-Prat, Berta
Fernández-Nieves, Alberto
Sagués, Francesc
Ignés-Mullol, Jordi
Soft Condensed Matter
We investigate experimentally the dynamic phase transition of a two-dimensional active nematic layer interfaced with a passive liquid crystal. Under a temperature ramp that leads to the transition of the passive liquid into a highly anisotropic lamellar smectic-A phase, and in the presence of a magnetic field, the coupled active nematic reorganizes its flow and orientational patterns from the turbulent into a quasi-laminar regime aligned perpendicularly to the field. Remarkably, while the phase transition of the passive fluid is known to be continuous, our observations reveal intermittent dynamics of the order parameter and the coexistence of aligned and turbulent regions in the active nematic, a signature of discontinuous, or first order, phase transitions.
title First order alignment transition in an interfaced active nematic
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.05589