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

Porenta, T.; Čopar, S.; Ackerman, P. J.; Pandey, M. B.; Varney, M. C. M.; Smalyukh, I. I.; Žumer, S.

doi:10.1038/srep07337

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

Journal Article · Fri Dec 05 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep07337· OSTI ID:1624753

Porenta, T. ^[1]; Čopar, S. ^[2]; Ackerman, P. J. ^[3]; Pandey, M. B. ^[3]; Varney, M. C. M. ^[3]; Smalyukh, I. I. ^[4]; Žumer, S. ^[5]

Univ. of Ljubljana (Slovenia); DOE/OSTI
Univ. of Ljubljana (Slovenia); J. Stefan Inst., Ljubljana (Slovenia); Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Univ. of Ljubljana (Slovenia); J. Stefan Inst., Ljubljana (Slovenia)

Metastable configurations formed by defects, inclusions, elastic deformations and topological solitons in liquid crystals are a promising choice for building photonic crystals and metamaterials with a potential for new optical applications. Local optical modification of the director or introduction of colloidal inclusions into a moderately chiral nematic liquid crystal confined to a homeotropic cell creates localized multistable chiral solitons. Here we induce solitons that ‘‘dress’’ the dispersed spherical particles treated for tangential degenerate boundary conditions, and perform controlled switching of their state using focused optical beams. Two optically switchable distinct metastable states, toron and hopfion, bound to colloidal spheres into structures with different topological charges are investigated. Their structures are examined using Q-tensor based numerical simulations and compared to the profiles reconstructed from the experiments. A topological explanation of observed multistability is constructed.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0010305

OSTI ID:: 1624753

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 4; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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