Surface patterning of low-dimensional systems: the chirality of charged fibres

Charged surfaces are interesting for their ability to have long-range correlations and their ability to be dynamically tuned. While the configurations of charged planar surfaces have been thoroughly mapped and studied, charged cylindrical surfaces show novel features. The surface patterning of cylindrically confined charges is discussed with emphasis on the role of chiral configurations. The origins of surface patterns due to competing interactions in charged monolayers are summarized along with their associated theoretical models. The electrostatically induced patterns described in this paper are important in many low-dimensional biological systems such as plasma membrane organization, filamentous virus capsid structure or microtubule interactions. A simple model effectively predicting some features of chiral patterns in biological systems is presented. We extend our model from helical lamellar patterns to elliptical patterns to consider asymmetrical patterns in assemblies of filamentous aggregates.