Issue 3, 2016

Electric field generation of Skyrmion-like structures in a nematic liquid crystal

Abstract

Skyrmions are particle-like topological objects that are increasingly drawing attention in condensed matter physics, where they are connected to inversion symmetry breaking and chirality. Here we report the generation of stable Skyrmion-like structures in a thin nematic liquid crystal film on chemically patterned patchy surfaces. Using the interplay of material elasticity and surface boundary conditions, we use a strong electric field to quench the nematic liquid crystal from a fully aligned phase to vortex-like nematic liquid crystal structures, centered on patterned patches, which carry two different sorts of topological defects. Numerical calculations reveal that these are Skyrmion-like structures, seeded from the surface boojum topological defects and swirling towards the second confining surface. These observations, supported by numerical methods, demonstrate the possibility to generate, manipulate and study Skyrmion-like objects in nematic liquid crystals on patterned surfaces.

Graphical abstract: Electric field generation of Skyrmion-like structures in a nematic liquid crystal

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Jul 2015
Accepted
30 Oct 2015
First published
30 Oct 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Soft Matter, 2016,12, 853-858

Author version available

Electric field generation of Skyrmion-like structures in a nematic liquid crystal

L. Cattaneo, Ž. Kos, M. Savoini, P. Kouwer, A. Rowan, M. Ravnik, I. Muševič and T. Rasing, Soft Matter, 2016, 12, 853 DOI: 10.1039/C5SM01726B

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