Dislocations dynamics during the nonlinear creep of a homeotropic sample of smectic-A liquid crystal

Analytical model of critical buckling transition for smectic liquid crystal based on the viscoelastic scaling of coarse-grained molecular dynamics

The buckling transition of smectic liquid crystals (LCs) is important not only as fundamental physics but also for the rational design of devices to make use of their optical and mechanical properties. However, there exists a huge gap between the specific knowledge and universal analytical formulation. We have conducted coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CGMD) simulations with the force field optimized for the description of buckling phenomena including topological defects to link the molecular nature and continuum formulation. The simulations reveal the viscoelastic characteristics where the critical strain and the compression modulus highly depend on the strain rate as well as the number of layers. Therefore, we formulate the scaling model whose coupling constants depend on both strain rate and domain size. The model reproduces the CGMD results as well as experimental and theoretical values in existing literature. Furthermore, we elucidate from this model that the critical buckling behavior is determined by the competition between the suppression of compression-induced flow and the undulation fluctuation of layers. The framework consisting of the CGMD simulation and the scaling model enables us to estimate the buckling characteristics of smectic LCs reflecting their molecular structures in a wide range from the low-frequency regime that can be verified by experiments to the high-frequency regime beyond the reach of it.

Derivation of coarse-grained force fields for buckling-induced topological defects of liquid crystals

Microscopic details of buckling-induced topological defects are required for molecular design of smectic liquid crystals to control buckling instability of the layers. In this study, we present a multiobjective optimization method to derive the coarse-grained (CG) force fields with sufficiently precise buckling characteristics including the molecular details for molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We perform CGMD simulations of buckling deformation at sample points in the CG force field parameter space, from which the response surfaces of objective functions such as the scalar orientational order parameters, critical angles of layer collapse, and radial distribution functions are estimated. Since not all objective functions can be optimized simultaneously, we use a genetic algorithm to calculate the Pareto set of optimal solutions. We select the models with different molecular head-tail symmetries to study buckling deformation. The extracted CG model successfully reproduces the buckling deformation in terms of the collapse of smectic layers through the generation of dislocations with dipole disclinations. We also find that the molecular symmetry is a dominant factor to control the class of the buckling-induced dislocations.

Landau theory for smectic-A-hexatic-B coexistence in smectic films

We explain theoretical peculiarities of the smectic-A-hexatic-B equilibrium phase coexistence in a finite-temperature range recently observed experimentally in free-standing smectic films [I. A. Zaluzhnyy et al., Phys. Rev. E 98, 052703 (2018)2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.98.052703]. We quantitatively describe this unexpected phenomenon within Landau phase transitions theory assuming that the film state is close to a tricritical point. We found that the surface hexatic order diminishes the phase coexistence range as the film thickness decreases, shrinking it to zero at some minimal film thickness L_{c}, of the order of a few hexatic correlation length. We established universal laws for the temperature width of the phase coexistence range in terms of the reduced variables. Our theory is in agreement with the existing experimental data.

Dynamics of Dislocations in Smectic A Liquid Crystals Doped with Nanoparticles

Edge dislocations are linear defects that locally break the positional order of the layers in smectic A liquid crystals. As in usual solids, these defects play a central role for explaining the plastic properties of the smectic A phase. This work focuses on the dynamical properties of dislocations in bulk samples prepared between two glass plates and in free-standing films. The emphasis will be put on the measurement of the mobility of edge dislocations in liquid crystals either pure or doped with nanoparticles. The experimental results will be compared to the existing models.