Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
190,851 studies31 sourcesUpdated 30 min ago
PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv

Merons Mediate Re-Ordering of Curved Rods Under Shear Flow

  • Nicholas W. Hackney
  • Joel T. Clemmer
  • Thomas O'Connor
  • Gary S. Grest
Open at sourcePDFDOICite

Abstract

Bent-core liquid crystals are a canonical example of a soft matter system whose behavior is controlled by a local preference for order that cannot be universally achieved. This geometric frustration, arising from the rod's curved shape, has been shown to stabilize a variety of equilibrium phases, such as the helically ordered nematic twist-bend phase (NTB). Unlike a traditional nematic, the twist-bend state has 1D translational order arising from a periodic rotation of bend orientation along the helical axis. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations to study the effect of shearing the NTB phase along directions parallel and perpendicular to the helical axis. In the case of shear perpendicular to the helical axis, the nematic twist-bend phase is stable and flows without disordering. Conversely, shear along the helical axis disrupts order and leads to the emergence of fractionally charged Skyrmion defects, i.e. merons. These defects act as topological machines, locally rotating rods into a re-ordered and stable orientation of the NTB phase. These findings reveal a new mechanism to create and control merons and highlight the potential application of bent-core liquid crystals in designing functional material with specific optical and computational properties.

Related

  1. Asphericity lifts the degeneracy among ordering mechanisms on curved surfaces
    Anže Božič
    arXivPreprintarXiv licenceFull textCondensed matterarXiv
  2. Merons beyond Yang-Mills theory
    Borja Diez, Luis Guajardo
    Journal of High Energy PhysicsPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textHigh-energy & particle physicsCrossref
  3. Granular Rods Fall Faster in Denser Obstacle Fields
    Fumiaki Nakai, Hiroaki Katsuragi
    arXivPreprintarXiv licenceFull textCondensed matterFluid dynamicsarXiv
  4. Diffusion of charged rods across 3D varying section channels
    N. Ray, A. Semkiv, J. Harting +1
    arXivPreprintCC BY 4.0Full textCondensed matterarXiv
  5. Intrinsic Curvature Controls Spontaneous Entanglement of Elastic Rods
    Fani Derveni, Javier Sabater, Pedro M. Reis
    arXivPreprintarXiv licenceFull textCondensed matterarXiv

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{hackney2026merons,
  title = {{Merons Mediate Re-Ordering of Curved Rods Under Shear Flow}},
  author = {Nicholas W. Hackney and Joel T. Clemmer and Thomas O'Connor and Gary S. Grest},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.21999},
  eprint = {2609.21999},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21999},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Merons Mediate Re-Ordering of Curved Rods Under Shear Flow
AU  - Nicholas W. Hackney
AU  - Joel T. Clemmer
AU  - Thomas O'Connor
AU  - Gary S. Grest
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/18
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.21999
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21999
AB  - Bent-core liquid crystals are a canonical example of a soft matter system whose behavior is controlled by a local preference for order that cannot be universally achieved. This geometric frustration, arising from the rod's curved shape, has been shown to stabilize a variety of equilibrium phases, such as the helically ordered nematic twist-bend phase (N_TB). Unlike a traditional nematic, the twist-bend state has 1D translational order arising from a periodic rotation of bend orientation along the helical axis. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulations to study the effect of shearing the N_TB phase along directions parallel and perpendicular to the helical axis. In the case of shear perpendicular to the helical axis, the nematic twist-bend phase is stable and flows without disordering. Conversely, shear along the helical axis disrupts order and leads to the emergence of fractionally charged Skyrmion defects, i.e. merons. These defects act as topological machines, locally rotating rods into a re-ordered and stable orientation of the N_TB phase. These findings reveal a new mechanism to create and control merons and highlight the potential application of bent-core liquid crystals in designing functional material with specific optical and computational properties.
ER  -