Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW E
Volume 93, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.93.012703
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- CAPES (Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior)
- CNPq (Conselho-Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico)
- FAPEAL (Fundacao de Apoio a Pesquisa do Estado de Alagoas)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We perform molecular dynamics simulations of the orientational ordering on nematic shells delimited by spherocylindrical nanoscopic colloidal particles. We show that under conditions of degenerate planar anchoring, the equilibrium director field structure in these shells exhibits pairs of +1/2 topological defects at the poles of spherical cups in the absence of an external electric field. In addition, a certain number of pairs of +/- 1/2 defects occurs on the spherical cups far from the poles, thus resulting in a total of eight valence spots. A strong field applied along themain spherocylindrical axis removes the +/- 1/2 defect pairs while it coalesces the polar ones into a single +1 topological defect. A strong transverse field destroys all defects on the spherical cups but generates four +1/2 defects in the cylindrical part. Therefore, an external field can be used to control the number of valence centers in spherocylindrical nematic shells, thus unveiling their capability of acting as multivalent building blocks for nanophotonic devices.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available