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Updated: May 18, 2026

Novel Techniques for Observing Structural Dynamics of Photoresponsive Liquid Crystals
Published on: May 29, 2018
Modeling the structure of liquids and crystals using one- and two-component modified phase-field crystal models
M J Robbins1, A J Archer, U Thiele
1Department of Mathematical Sciences, Loughborough University, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
A modified phase-field crystal model in which the free energy may be minimized by an order parameter profile having isolated bumps is investigated. The phase diagram is calculated in one and two dimensions and we locate the regions where modulated and uniform phases are formed and also regions where localized states are formed. We investigate the effectiveness of the phase-field crystal model for describing fluids and crystals with defects. We further consider a two-component model and elucidate how the structure transforms from hexagonal crystalline ordering to square ordering as the concentration changes. Our conclusion contains a discussion of possible interpretations of the order parameter field.
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