Jožef Stefan Institute

About: Jožef Stefan Institute is a facility organization based out in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Liquid crystal & Dielectric. The organization has 3828 authors who have published 12614 publications receiving 291025 citations.

Colloidal entanglement in highly twisted chiral nematic colloids: twisted loops, Hopf links, and trefoil knots.

Abstract: The topology and geometry of closed defect loops is studied in chiral nematic colloids with variable chirality. The colloidal particles with perpendicular surface anchoring of liquid crystalline molecules are inserted in a twisted nematic cell with the thickness that is only slightly larger than the diameter of the colloidal particle. The total twist of the chiral nematic structure in cells with parallel boundary conditions is set to 0, $\ensuremath{\pi}$, $2\ensuremath{\pi}$, and $3\ensuremath{\pi}$, respectively. We use the laser tweezers to discern the number and the topology of the $\ensuremath{-}1/2$ defect loops entangling colloidal particles. For a single colloidal particle, we observe that a single defect loop is winding around the particle, with the winding pattern being more complex in cells with higher total twist. We observe that colloidal dimers and colloidal clusters are always entangled by one or several $\ensuremath{-}1/2$ defect loops. For colloidal pairs in $\ensuremath{\pi}$-twisted cells, we identify at least 17 different entangled structures, some of them exhibiting linked defect loops-Hopf link. Colloidal entanglement is even richer with a higher number of colloidal particles, where we observe not only linked, but also colloidal clusters knotted into the trefoil knot. The experiments are in good agreement with numerical modeling using Landau-de Gennes theory coupled with geometrical and topological considerations using the method of tetrahedral rotation.

The creation of electric wind due to the electrohydrodynamic force

Abstract: Understanding the interactions between ionized matter and neutral particles is a prerequisite for discovering their impact on natural phenomena. One such phenomenon is the electric wind, which supposedly occurs due to the charged particle-neutral coupling in systems of weakly ionized gases, but this mechanism remains unclear. Here, we report direct evidence that electric wind is caused by an electrohydrodynamic force generated by the charged particle drag as a result of the momentum transfer from electrons/ions to neutrals. The model experiment is based on a pulsed plasma jet as a source of weakly ionized gases generated in the helium gas at atmospheric pressure using Schlieren photography. Studying the helium gas flow trajectories at different discharge parameters allows one to distinguish between the effects of streamer propagation or space charge drift causing the electric wind as well as to determine the role of electrons and (positive) ions in wind generation.

Evidence of supercritical behavior in liquid single crystal elastomers.

Abstract: Temperature profiles of the first and the second moment of the nematic order parameter distribution function, as determined from the deuteron nuclear magnetic resonance line shapes, as well as heat capacity response, provide support for the supercritical scenario of the nematic-paranematic phase transition in liquid single crystal elastomers. The relative strength of the locked-in internal mechanical field with respect to the critical field can be decreased by swelling the elastomer samples with low molecular mass nematogen. By increasing the concentration of the dopant, critical and below-critical behavior is promoted.

Laser trapping of low refractive index colloids in a nematic liquid crystal.

Abstract: We describe and analyze laser trapping of small colloidal particles in a nematic liquid crystal, where the index of refraction of colloids is smaller compared to the indices of the liquid crystal. Two mechanisms are identified that are responsible for this anomalous trapping: (i) below the optical Fr\'eedericksz transition, the trapping is due to the anisotropic dielectric interaction of the polarized light with the inhomogeneous director field around the colloid, (ii) above the optical Fr\'eedericksz transition, the optical trapping is accompanied by the elasticity-mediated interaction between the optically distorted region of a liquid crystal and the colloid. In the majority of the experiments, the trapping above the Fr\'eedericksz transition is highly anisotropic. Qualitative agreement is found with a numerical analysis, considering the nematic director elastic distortion, dielectric director-light field coupling and optical repulsion due to low refraction index colloid in high index surroundings.