Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 8, Issue -, Pages 1-9Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15453
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Funding
- National Research Foundation (NRF)
- Korean Government (MSIP) [2014M3C1A3052567, 2015R1A1A1A05000986]
- Harvard University through a George F. Carrier Fellowship
- National Research Foundation of Korea [2015R1A1A1A05000986, 2017M3C1A3013923, 10Z20130012893] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
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The liquid crystalline phases of matter each possess distinct types of defects that have drawn great interest in areas such as topology, self-assembly and material micropatterning. However, relatively little is known about how defects in one liquid crystalline phase arise from defects or deformations in another phase upon crossing a phase transition. Here, we directly examine defects in the in situ thermal phase transition from nematic to smectic A in hybrid-aligned liquid crystal droplets on water substrates, using experimental, theoretical and numerical analyses. The hybrid-aligned nematic droplet spontaneously generates boojum defects. During cooling, toric focal conic domains arise through a sequence of morphological transformations involving nematic stripes and locally aligned focal conic domains. This simple experiment reveals a surprisingly complex pathway by which very different types of defects may be related across the nematic-smectic A phase transition, and presents new possibilities for controlled deformation and patterning of liquid crystals.
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