Hybridization of colloidal handlebodies with singular defects and topological solitons in chiral liquid crystals

Lee, Jun-Yong; Kumari, Asha; Yuan, Ye; Tasinkevych, Mykola; Smalyukh, Ivan I.

doi:10.1039/D5SM00014A

Hybridization of colloidal handlebodies with singular defects and topological solitons in chiral liquid crystals

Journal Article · Wed Mar 26 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Soft Matter

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/D5SM00014A· OSTI ID:2538717

Lee, Jun-Yong ^[1]; Kumari, Asha ^[1]; Yuan, Ye ^[1]; Tasinkevych, Mykola ^[2]; ^[3]

Hiroshima Univ. (Japan)
Hiroshima Univ. (Japan); Nottingham Trent Univ. (United Kingdom)
Hiroshima Univ. (Japan); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Topology can manifest itself in colloids when quantified by invariants like Euler characteristics of nonzero-genus colloidal surfaces, albeit spherical colloidal particles are most often studied, and colloidal particles with complex topology are rarely considered. On the other hand, singular defects and topological solitons often define the physical behavior of the molecular alignment director fields in liquid crystals. Interestingly, nematic liquid crystalline dispersions of colloidal particles allow for probing the interplay between topologies of surfaces and fields, but only a limited number of such cases have been explored so far. Here, we study the hybridization of topological solitons, singular defects, and topologically nontrivial colloidal particles with the genus of surfaces different from zero in a chiral nematic liquid crystal phase. Hybridization occurs when distortions separately induced by colloidal particles and LC solitons overlap, leading to energy minimization-driven redistribution of director field deformations and defects. As a result, hybrid director configurations emerge, combining topological features from both components. We uncover a host of director field configurations complying with topological theorems, which can be controlled by applying electric fields. Rotational and translational dynamics arise due to the nonreciprocal evolution of the director fields in response to alternating electric fields of different frequencies. These findings help define a platform for controlling topologically hyper-complex colloidal structures and dynamics with electrically reconfigurable singular defects and topological solitons induced by colloidal handlebodies.

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

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0010305; SC0019293

OSTI ID:: 2538717

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 3018594

Journal Information:: Soft Matter, Journal Name: Soft Matter Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 21; ISSN 1744-683X; ISSN 1744-6848

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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