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Updated: Jun 18, 2026

High-Contrast and Fast Photorheological Switching of a Twist-Bend Nematic Liquid Crystal
Published on: October 31, 2019
Mechanically induced biaxial transition in a nanoconfined nematic liquid crystal with a topological defect
Giovanni Carbone1, Giuseppe Lombardo, Riccardo Barberi
1CNR-INFM LiCryL, c/o Physics Department, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy. giovanni.carbone@eng.ox.ac.uk
Abstract:
Using an atomic force microscopy, we have measured the separation dependence of the force between an atomically flat mica sheet and a micrometer-sized glass sphere immersed in the nematic liquid crystal. As the mica surface induces a strong parallel alignment and the treated glass sphere induces a strong perpendicular alignment on the liquid crystal, a repulsive force is observed due to the elastically deformed nematic liquid crystal. We observe that below a critical separation d(th) approximately 10 nm, the system undergoes a structural transition, thus relaxing the distortion. The results are interpreted within the eigenvalue exchange mechanism using the Landau-de Gennes tensorial approach.
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