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Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Orientational Transition in a Liquid Crystal Triggered by the Thermodynamic Growth of Interfacial Wetting Sheets
Published on: May 15, 2017
Topological defect transformation and structural transition of two-dimensional colloidal crystals across the nematic
K P Zuhail1, P Sathyanarayana1, D Seč2,3
1School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad-500046, India.
Abstract:
We observe that topological defects in nematic colloids are strongly influenced by the elasticity and onset of smectic layering across the nematic (N) to smectic-A (SmA) phase transition. When approaching the SmA phase from above, the nematic hyperbolic hedgehog defect that accompanies a spherical colloidal inclusion is transformed into a focal conic line in the SmA phase. This phase transformation has a strong influence on the pairwise colloidal interaction and is responsible for a structural transition of two-dimensional colloidal crystals. The pretransitional behavior of the point defect is supported by Landau-de Gennes Q-tensor modeling accounting for the increasing elastic anisotropy.
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