Tunable macroscopic defect patterns induced by a low-frequency AC electric field in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Podoliak, Natalia, Lejcek, Lubor, Cigl, Martin, Novotna, Vladimira
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Podoliak, Natalia
Lejcek, Lubor
Cigl, Martin
Novotna, Vladimira
author_facet Podoliak, Natalia
Lejcek, Lubor
Cigl, Martin
Novotna, Vladimira
contents Regulation of topological structures and pattern formation is attracting wide interest in the field of condensed matter. Liquid crystals (LCs) represent soft matter with a remarkable combination of fluidity and anisotropic properties. Topological defects may appear in confined LCs under external stimuli. Recently discovered ferroelectric nematics (NF) opened exceptional opportunities in technologies owing to high permittivity and polarisation. Polar properties of NF supply more variability to topological structures. In this research, we present tunable 2D topological defect arrays in NF compound, induced by an alternating (AC) electric field in simple sandwich cells without pre-patterning. The observed arrays of defects form pseudo-square lattices, which character and periodicity depend on the frequency of the applied field and partially on the cell thickness. The observed effect is explained to occur due to the competition between elastic and electrical forces. The proposed system can be useful to create reconfigurable spatially periodic polarisation structures.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_24176
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tunable macroscopic defect patterns induced by a low-frequency AC electric field in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals
Podoliak, Natalia
Lejcek, Lubor
Cigl, Martin
Novotna, Vladimira
Soft Condensed Matter
Regulation of topological structures and pattern formation is attracting wide interest in the field of condensed matter. Liquid crystals (LCs) represent soft matter with a remarkable combination of fluidity and anisotropic properties. Topological defects may appear in confined LCs under external stimuli. Recently discovered ferroelectric nematics (NF) opened exceptional opportunities in technologies owing to high permittivity and polarisation. Polar properties of NF supply more variability to topological structures. In this research, we present tunable 2D topological defect arrays in NF compound, induced by an alternating (AC) electric field in simple sandwich cells without pre-patterning. The observed arrays of defects form pseudo-square lattices, which character and periodicity depend on the frequency of the applied field and partially on the cell thickness. The observed effect is explained to occur due to the competition between elastic and electrical forces. The proposed system can be useful to create reconfigurable spatially periodic polarisation structures.
title Tunable macroscopic defect patterns induced by a low-frequency AC electric field in ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.24176