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Updated: Apr 21, 2026

Novel Techniques for Observing Structural Dynamics of Photoresponsive Liquid Crystals
Published on: May 29, 2018
Theory of skyrmion states in liquid crystals
A O Leonov1, I E Dragunov2, U K Rößler3
1IFW Dresden, Postfach 270016, D-01171 Dresden, Germany and Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9700AB, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Within the Oseen-Frank theory we derive numerically exact solutions for axisymmetric localized states in chiral liquid crystal layers with homeotropic anchoring. These solutions describe recently observed two-dimensional skyrmions in confinement-frustrated chiral nematics [P. J. Ackerman et al., Phys. Rev. E 90, 012505 (2014)]. We stress that these solitonic states arise due to a fundamental stabilization mechanism responsible for the formation of skyrmions in cubic helimagnets and other noncentrosymmetric condensed-matter systems.
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