We show experimentally that large matrixes of localized structures can be stored as elementary pixels in a nematic liquid crystal cell. Based on optical feedback with phase modulated input beam, our system allows to store, erase and actualize in parallel the localized structures in the matrix.
Motivated by experiments in electroconvection in nematic liquid crystals with homeotropic alignment we study the coupled amplitude equations describing the formation of a stationary roll pattern in the presence of a weakly-damped mode that breaks isotropy. The equations can be generalized to describe the planarly aligned case if the orienting effect of the boundaries is small, which can be achieved by a destabilizing magnetic field. The slow mode represents the in-plane director at the center of the cell. The simplest uniform states are normal rolls which may undergo a pitchfork bifurcation to abnormal rolls with a misaligned in-plane director.We present a new class of defect-free solutions with spatial modulations perpendicular to the rolls. In a parameter range where the zig-zag instability is not relevant these solutions are stable attractors, as observed in experiments. We also present two-dimensionally modulated states with and without defects which result from the destabilization of the one-dimensionally modulated structures. Finally, for no (or very small) damping, and away from the rotationally symmetric case, we find static chevrons made up of a periodic arrangement of defect chains (or bands of defects) separating homogeneous regions of oblique rolls with very small amplitude. These states may provide a model for a class of poorly understood stationary structures observed in various highly-conducting materials (prechevrons or broad domains).
We consider the simplified Ericksen-Leslie model in three dimensional bounded Lipschitz domains. Applying a semilinear approach, we prove local and global well-posedness (assuming a smallness condition on the initial data) in critical spaces for initial data in $L^3_{sigma}$ for the fluid and $W^{1,3}$ for the director field. The analysis of such models, so far, has been restricted to domains with smooth boundaries.
We investigate nonlinear localized modes at light-mass impurities in a one-dimensional, strongly-compressed chain of beads under Hertzian contacts. Focusing on the case of one or two such defects, we analyze the problems linear limit to identify the system eigenfrequencies and the linear defect modes. We then examine the bifurcation of nonlinear defect modes from their linear counterparts and study their linear stability in detail. We identify intriguing differences between the case of impurities in contact and ones that are not in contact. We find that the former bears similarities to the single defect case, whereas the latter features symmetry-breaking bifurcations with interesting static and dynamic implications.
We analyze the existence and stability of two-component vector solitons in nematic liquid crystals for which one of the components carries angular momentum and describes a vortex beam. We demonstrate that the nonlocal, nonlinear response can dramatically enhance the field coupling leading to the stabilization of the vortex beam when the amplitude of the second beam exceeds some threshold value. We develop a variational approach to describe this effect analytically.
We analyze the interaction with uniform external fields of nematic liquid crystals within a recent generalized free-energy posited by Virga and falling in the class of quartic functionals in the spatial gradients of the nematic director. We review some known interesting solutions, i. e., uniform heliconical structures, which correspond to the so-called twist-bend nematic phase and we also study the transition between this phase and the standard uniform nematic one. Moreover, we find liquid crystal configurations, which closely resemble some novel, experimentally detected, structures called Skyrmion Tubes. Skyrmion Tubes are characterized by a localized cylindrically-symmetric pattern surrounded by either twist-bend or uniform nematic phase. We study the equilibrium differential equations and find numerical solutions and analytical approximations.