Two-Dimensional Skyrmions and Other Solitonic Structures in Confinement-Frustrated Chiral Nematics

Ackerman, Paul J.; Trivedi, Rahul P.; Senyuk, Bohdan; van de Lagemaat, Jao; Smalyukh, Ivan I.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.90.012505

Two-Dimensional Skyrmions and Other Solitonic Structures in Confinement-Frustrated Chiral Nematics

Journal Article · Thu Jul 10 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.90.012505· OSTI ID:1144820

Ackerman, Paul J.; Trivedi, Rahul P.; Senyuk, Bohdan; van de Lagemaat, Jao; Smalyukh, Ivan I.

We explore spatially localized solitonic configurations of a director field, generated using optical realignment and laser-induced heating, in frustrated chiral nematic liquid crystals confined between substrates with perpendicular surface anchoring. We demonstrate that, in addition to recently studied torons and Hopf-fibration solitonic structures (hopfions), one can generate a host of other axially symmetric stable and metastable director field configurations where local twist is matched to the surface boundary conditions through introduction of point defects and loops of singular and nonsingular disclinations. The experimentally demonstrated structures include the so-called 'baby-skyrmions' in the form of double twist cylinders oriented perpendicular to the confining substrates where their double twist field configuration is matched to the perpendicular boundary conditions by loops of twist disclinations. We also generate complex textures with arbitrarily large skyrmion numbers. A simple back-of-the-envelope theoretical analysis based on free energy considerations and the nonpolar nature of chiral nematics provides insights into the long-term stability and diversity of these inter-related solitonic field configurations, including different types of torons, cholestric-finger loops, two-dimensional skyrmions, and more complex structures comprised of torons, hopfions, and various disclination loops that are experimentally observed in a confinement-frustrated chiral nematic system.

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

DOE Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1144820

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-61548

Journal Information:: Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 90

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (51)

Generating the Hopf Fibration Experimentally in Nematic Liquid Crystals Chen, Bryan Gin-ge; Ackerman, Paul J.; Alexander, Gareth P. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.237801	journal	June 2013
Experimental evidence for a hexagonal Blue Phase Pieranski, P.; Cladis, P. E.; Barbet-Massin, R. Journal de Physique Lettres, Vol. 46, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1051/jphyslet:019850046020097300	journal	January 1985
Topology and Origin of Effective Spin Meron Pairs in Ferromagnetic Multilayer Elements Wintz, Sebastian; Bunce, Christopher; Neudert, Andreas Physical Review Letters, Vol. 110, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.177201	journal	April 2013
Optical generation of crystalline, quasicrystalline, and arbitrary arrays of torons in confined cholesteric liquid crystals for patterning of optical vortices in laser beams Ackerman, Paul J.; Qi, Zhiyuan; Smalyukh, Ivan I. Physical Review E, Vol. 86, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.86.021703	journal	August 2012
Structure of elongated and spherulitic domains in long pitch cholesterics with homeotropic boundary alignment Stieb, A. E. Journal de Physique, Vol. 41, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1051/jphys:01980004109096100	journal	January 1980
New Molecular Alignment Models of Bubble Domains and Striped Domains in Cholesteric-Nematic Mixtures Hirata, Shoji; Akahane, Tadashi; Tako, Toshiharu Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol. 75, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/00268948108073603	journal	October 1981
Linked and knotted beams of light Irvine, William T. M.; Bouwmeester, Dirk Nature Physics, Vol. 4, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1056	journal	August 2008
Spontaneous skyrmion ground states in magnetic metals Rößler, U. K.; Bogdanov, A. N.; Pfleiderer, C. Nature, Vol. 442, Issue 7104, p. 797-801 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05056	journal	August 2006
Spontaneous atomic-scale magnetic skyrmion lattice in two dimensions Heinze, Stefan; von Bergmann, Kirsten; Menzel, Matthias Nature Physics, Vol. 7, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2045	journal	July 2011
Three-dimensional structure and multistable optical switching of triple-twisted particle-like excitations in anisotropic fluids Smalyukh, Ivan I.; Lansac, Yves; Clark, Noel A. Nature Materials, Vol. 9, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2592	journal	December 2009
Molecular Alignment of Bubble Domains in Large Pitch Cholesteric Liquid Crystals Akahane, Tadashi; Tako, Toshiharu Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol. 38, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/15421407708084391	journal	January 1977
Optical generation, templating, and polymerization of three-dimensional arrays of liquid-crystal defects decorated by plasmonic nanoparticles Evans, Julian S.; Ackerman, Paul J.; Broer, Dirk J. Physical Review E, Vol. 87, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.87.032503	journal	March 2013
Static and dynamic textures obtained under an electric field in the neighbourhood of the winding transition of a strongly confined cholesteric Gilli, J. M.; Gil, L. Liquid Crystals, Vol. 17, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/02678299408036545	journal	July 1994
Phase Diagrams of Cholesterics in Applied Fields : the Two-Dimensional Hexagonal Phase Hornreich, R. M.; Kugler, M.; Shtrikman, S. Le Journal de Physique Colloques, Vol. 46, Issue C3 https://doi.org/10.1051/jphyscol:1985305	journal	March 1985
Forming process and stability of bubble domains in dielectrically positive cholesteric liquid crystals Pirkl, S.; Ribière, P.; Oswald, P. Liquid Crystals, Vol. 13, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1080/02678299308026314	journal	March 1993
Molecular Alignment of Bubble Domains in Cholesteric-Nematic Mixtures Akahane, Tadashi; Tako, Toshiharu Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 15, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1143/JJAP.15.1559	journal	August 1976
Skyrmion Lattice in a Chiral Magnet Muhlbauer, S.; Binz, B.; Jonietz, F. Science, Vol. 323, Issue 5916 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1166767	journal	February 2009
Invited Lecture. Hexagonal cholesteric blue phases Hornreich, R. M.; Shtrikman, S. Liquid Crystals, Vol. 5, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1080/02678298908026384	journal	January 1989
Electrically variable diffraction in spherulitic liquid crystals Haas, Werner E. L.; Adams, James E. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 25, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1655464	journal	September 1974
Skyrmions in nematic liquid crystals Bogdanov, A. N.; Rößler, U. K.; Shestakov, A. A. Physical Review E, Vol. 67, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.67.016602	journal	January 2003
Observation of Forming Process of Bubble Domain Texture in Liquid Crystals Nawa, Nobuhiko; Nakamura, Kenichi Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 17, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1143/JJAP.17.219	journal	January 1978
A non-linear field theory Skyrme, T. H. R. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 260, Issue 1300, p. 127-138 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1961.0018	journal	February 1961
Shape-Dependent Oriented Trapping and Scaffolding of Plasmonic Nanoparticles by Topological Defects for Self-Assembly of Colloidal Dimers in Liquid Crystals Senyuk, Bohdan; Evans, Julian S.; Ackerman, Paul J. Nano Letters, Vol. 12, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl204030t	journal	January 2012
Three dimensional optical manipulation and structural imaging of soft materials by use of laser tweezers and multimodal nonlinear microscopy Trivedi, Rahul P.; Lee, Taewoo; Bertness, Kris A. Optics Express, Vol. 18, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.18.027658	journal	January 2010
Structure and properties of bubble domains in cholesteric‐nematic mixtures Bhide, V. G.; Jain, S. C.; Chandra, S. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 48, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.324220	journal	August 1977
Observation of a hexagonal blue phase in systems with negative dielectric anisotropy Heppke, G.; Jéròme, B.; Kitzerow, H-S. Liquid Crystals, Vol. 5, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1080/02678298908026387	journal	January 1989
Liquid Crystals and Ordered Fluids Johnson, Julian F.; Porter, Roger S. Springer New York https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2727-1	book	January 1974
DC-Controllable Bubble Domains in Mixed Liquid Crystals Obayashi, Chikao Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 20, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1143/JJAP.20.1753	journal	September 1981
New optical storage mode in liquid crystals Haas, Werner E. L.; Adams, James E. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 25, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1655299	journal	November 1974
Nucleation, stability and current-induced motion of isolated magnetic skyrmions in nanostructures Sampaio, J.; Cros, V.; Rohart, S. Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 8, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.210	journal	October 2013
Inhomogeneous two-dimensional structures in liquid crystals Bogdanov, A. N.; Shestakov, A. A. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, Vol. 86, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1134/1.558562	journal	May 1998
Effects of light on molecular orientation of liquid crystals Simoni, F.; Francescangeli, O. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 11, Issue 41 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/11/41/201	journal	October 1999
Skyrmions in a ferromagnetic Bose–Einstein condensate Al Khawaja, Usama; Stoof, Henk Nature, Vol. 411, Issue 6840 https://doi.org/10.1038/35082010	journal	June 2001
Knots in a Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate Kawaguchi, Yuki; Nitta, Muneto; Ueda, Masahito Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.180403	journal	May 2008
Geometrical frustration and defects in condensed matter systems Mosseri, Rémy Comptes Rendus Chimie, Vol. 11, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crci.2007.03.019	journal	March 2008
Possibility of a Field-Induced Hexagonal Blue Phase in Cholesteric Liquid Crystals Hornreich, R. M.; Kugler, M.; Shtrikman, S. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 54, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.2099	journal	May 1985
Theory of spherulitic domains in cholesteric liquid crystals with positive dielectric anisotropy Bogdanov, A. N. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters, Vol. 71, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1134/1.568286	journal	January 2000
Bubble Domain Texture of a Liquid Crystal Kawachi, Masao; Kogure, Osamu; Kato, Yoshinori Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1143/JJAP.13.1457	journal	September 1974
Production and application of electron vortex beams Verbeeck, J.; Tian, H.; Schattschneider, P. Nature, Vol. 467, Issue 7313 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09366	journal	September 2010
Unwinding of a Skyrmion Lattice by Magnetic Monopoles Milde, P.; Kohler, D.; Seidel, J. Science, Vol. 340, Issue 6136 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1234657	journal	May 2013
Surprising Dynamics of Some Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Patterns Gil, L.; Gilli, J. M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 80, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.5742	journal	June 1998
Current-induced skyrmion dynamics in constricted geometries Iwasaki, Junichi; Mochizuki, Masahito; Nagaosa, Naoto Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 8, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.176	journal	September 2013
Static and dynamic properties of cholesteric fingers in electric field Oswald, P.; Baudry, J.; Pirkl, S. Physics Reports, Vol. 337, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0370-1573(00)00056-9	journal	October 2000
From Bubble Domains to Spirals in Cholesteric Liquid Crystals Pirkl, S.; Oswald, P. Journal de Physique II, Vol. 6, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1051/jp2:1996187	journal	March 1996
Quasi-two-dimensional Skyrmion lattices in a chiral nematic liquid crystal Fukuda, Jun-ichi; Žumer, Slobodan Nature Communications, Vol. 2, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1250	journal	March 2011
Three-dimensional imaging of orientational order by fluorescence confocal polarizing microscopy Smalyukh, I. I.; Shiyanovskii, S. V.; Lavrentovich, O. D. Chemical Physics Letters, Vol. 336, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0009-2614(00)01471-8	journal	March 2001
Structure and properties of bubble domains in cholesteric‐nematic mixtures Bhide, V. G.; Chandra, S.; Jain, S. C. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 47, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.322305	journal	January 1976
Electric-field-induced nematic-cholesteric transition and three-dimensional director structures in homeotropic cells Smalyukh, I. I.; Senyuk, B. I.; Palffy-Muhoray, P. Physical Review E, Vol. 72, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.72.061707	journal	December 2005
Mechanism for the formation of bubble domains Gurova, I. N.; Kapustina, O. A. Liquid Crystals, Vol. 6, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1080/02678298908034172	journal	January 1989
Topological properties and dynamics of magnetic skyrmions Nagaosa, Naoto; Tokura, Yoshinori Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 8, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2013.243	journal	December 2013
Generation of electron beams carrying orbital angular momentum Uchida, Masaya; Tonomura, Akira Nature, Vol. 464, Issue 7289 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08904	journal	April 2010

Similar Records

Self-Assembly and Electrostriction of Arrays and Chains of Hopfion Particles in Chiral Liquid Crystals

Journal Article · Tue Jan 20 19:00:00 EST 2015 · Nature Communications · OSTI ID:1169777

Topological Switching and Orbiting Dynamics of Colloidal Spheres Dressed with Chiral Nematic Solitons

Journal Article · Thu Dec 04 19:00:00 EST 2014 · Scientific Reports · OSTI ID:1624753

Hopfions, heliknotons, skyrmions, torons and both abelian and nonabelian vortices in chiral liquid crystals

Journal Article · Wed Mar 02 19:00:00 EST 2022 · Liquid Crystals Reviews · OSTI ID:2341943

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
boundary conditions
cylinder configurations
nematic liquid crystals
point defects
two dimensional

Two-Dimensional Skyrmions and Other Solitonic Structures in Confinement-Frustrated Chiral Nematics

Citation Formats

References (51)

Similar Records

Related Subjects