Annealing and melting of active two-dimensional soliton lattices in chiral nematic films.

Shen, Yuan; Dierking, Ingo · Soft Matter · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

In this work, thousands of electrically driven dissipative solitons, called directrons, are generated in a chiral nematic liquid crystal. The directrons start with random motions but soon synchronize their motions and self-organize into a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice. The directron lattice moves collectively and forms a hexatic phase. By increasing the applied voltage, the lattice exhibits a first-order hexatic-to-liquid phase transition.