Abstract
We investigate numerically the behaviour of a phase-separating mixture of a blue phase I liquid crystal with an isotropic fluid. The resulting morphology is primarily controlled by an inverse capillary number, $\chi$, setting the balance between interfacial and elastic forces. When $\chi$ and the concentration of the isotropic component are both low, the blue phase disclination lattice templates a cubic array of fluid cylinders. For larger $\chi$, the isotropic phase arranges primarily into liquid emulsion droplets which coarsen very slowly, rewiring the blue phase disclination lines into an amorphous elastic network. Our blue phase/simple fluid composites can be externally manipulated: an electric field can trigger a morphological transition between cubic fluid cylinder phases with different topologies.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Physical Review Letters |
Volume | 121 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 5 Jul 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 20 Jul 2018 |
Keywords
- cond-mat.soft
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Data for "Mixtures of blue phase liquid crystal with simple liquids: elastic emulsions and cubic fluid cylinders"
Stratford, K. (Creator), Lintuvuori, J. (Creator), Marenduzzo, D. (Creator) & Cates, M. (Creator), Edinburgh DataShare, 27 Jul 2018
DOI: 10.7488/ds/2396
Dataset
Profiles
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Kevin Stratford
- College of Science and Engineering - Senior Research Fellow
- Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre
Person: Academic: Research Active