Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 9, 2025
08:07
A Micropatterning Assay for Measuring Cell Chirality
Published on: March 11, 2022
2.4K
Chiral Skyrmions Interacting with Chiral Flowers
Xichao Zhang1, Jing Xia2, Oleg A Tretiakov3
1Department of Applied Physics, Waseda University, Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan.
Nano Letters
|December 6, 2023
Summary
This study reveals how thermally activated chiral skyrmions interact with chiral obstacles, demonstrating a new method for controlling skyrmion distribution without external forces. This finding could lead to novel topological sorting devices.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Active Matter Physics
Background:
- Chiral active matter dynamics are crucial for understanding interactions with chiral structures.
- Skyrmions, as chiral objects, exhibit unique behaviors when interacting with chiral nanostructures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the random-walk dynamics of thermally activated chiral skyrmions interacting with chiral flower-like obstacles.
- To investigate topology-dependent outcomes in these interactions.
- To demonstrate a method for controlling skyrmion position and distribution via thermal fluctuations and topological nature.
Main Methods:
- Simulating the random-walk dynamics of a thermally activated chiral skyrmion.
- Analyzing the interaction between skyrmions and chiral flower-like obstacles in a ferromagnetic layer at finite temperatures.
Main Results:
- Observed a spontaneous mesoscopic order-from-disorder phenomenon driven by thermal fluctuations and skyrmion topology.
- Demonstrated that skyrmion-chiral flower interactions at finite temperatures can control skyrmion position and distribution without external forces or temperature gradients.
- Showcased dynamic coupling between thermally activated skyrmions and chiral flowers.
Conclusions:
- The interaction between skyrmions and chiral obstacles offers a novel pathway for controlling particle dynamics.
- This phenomenon presents a new strategy for designing topological sorting devices.
- The findings highlight the importance of chirality and thermal fluctuations in active matter systems.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
02:25Chirality
24.3K
Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...
24.3K
02:30Chirality in Nature
13.4K
Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid.
13.4K
02:25Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers
11.7K
Molecules that possess multiple chiral centers can afford a large number of stereoisomers. For instance, while some molecules like 2-butanol have one chiral center, defined as a tetrahedral carbon atom with four different substituents attached, several molecules like butane-2,3-diol have multiple chiral centers. A simple formula to predict the number of stereoisomers possible for a molecule with n chiral centers is 2n. However, there can be a lower number where some of the stereoisomers are...
11.7K
02:33Stereoisomerism of Cyclic Compounds
8.9K
In this lesson, we delve into the role of ring conformation and its stability, which determines the spatial arrangement and, consequently, the molecular symmetry and stereoisomerism of cyclic compounds. 1,2-Dimethylcyclohexane is used as a case study to evaluate the possible number of stereoisomers. Here, given the multiple (n = 2) chiral centers, there are 2n = 4 possible configurations that lack a plane of symmetry, as the ring skeleton exists in a non-planar chair conformation. In addition,...
8.9K
02:05Prochirality
3.8K
The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...
3.8K
02:30Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur
5.7K
Chirality is most prevalent in carbon-based tetrahedral compounds, but this important facet of molecular symmetry extends to sp3-hybridized nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur centers, including trivalent molecules with lone pairs. Here, the lone pair behaves as a functional group in addition to the other three substituents to form an analogous tetrahedral center that can be chiral.
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...
5.7K