Interaction of liquid crystal skyrmions with curved boundaries

ORAL

Abstract

A liquid crystal cell is made by confining the liquid crystal material between two plates usually made of glass. In recent years, long-lived skyrmions, which are topological defect structures of the director field, have been realized in chiral nematic liquid crystal cells by means of establishing equilibrium between a background electric field and surface anchoring. These skyrmions interact with each other as well as with field gradients. In this work, we present numerical studies where an additional electric field, surface anchoring or light is used to generate “walls” to guide the motion of skyrmions. Specifically, we explore the motion of skyrmions near curved boundaries and how it is affected by the curvature.

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Presenters

  • Avadh Saxena

    Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laborary, Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA, Theoretical Division - T4, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Authors

  • Avadh Saxena

    Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laborary, Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA, Theoretical Division - T4, Los Alamos National Laboratory

  • Ayhan Duzgun

    Los Alamos National Lab, Los Alamos National Laboratory