Morphogenesis and topological evolution of a frustrated nematic liquid crystal under confinement
Abstract
Liquid crystals (LC) represent topological soft matter that spontaneously form assemblies of constituents and mesoscale textures to minimize free energy. Depending on boundary conditions, they exhibit transformable topological defects, whose study provides fundamental insights applicable to a wide array of disciplines. However, their three-dimensional (3D) structures and dynamics remain largely unexplored due to the subdiffraction limit length scales and submillisecond time scales characteristic of conventional molecular LCs. Here, we report a morphogenesis from conventional nematic tactoids to a unique flower-shaped morphology using a colloidal LC composed of Eu 3+ -doped LaPO 4 nanorods. We demonstrate 3D orientational tomography based on polarized photoluminescence spectroscopy of the Eu 3+ dopants, revealing dramatic topological and topographical modulations. We find that this morphogenesis is driven by a theoretically unexpected vertical anchoring of the nanorods on the substrate, which exerts conflicting boundary conditions and leads to a competition between elastic energy and relatively weak surface tension. Our results provide valuable insights into how energy balance in topological matter can be modulated by tuning physicochemical properties of its building blocks.
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BibTeX
@article{magermans2026morphogenesis,
title = {{Morphogenesis and topological evolution of a frustrated nematic liquid crystal under confinement}},
author = {Lilian Magermans and Jeongmo Kim and Reinaldo Chacon and Aymeric Leray and Timothy J Atherton and Thierry Gacoin and Jongwook Kim},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1073/pnas.2536520123},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05762332v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Morphogenesis and topological evolution of a frustrated nematic liquid crystal under confinement
AU - Lilian Magermans
AU - Jeongmo Kim
AU - Reinaldo Chacon
AU - Aymeric Leray
AU - Timothy J Atherton
AU - Thierry Gacoin
AU - Jongwook Kim
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/30
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2536520123
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05762332v1
AB - Liquid crystals (LC) represent topological soft matter that spontaneously form assemblies of constituents and mesoscale textures to minimize free energy. Depending on boundary conditions, they exhibit transformable topological defects, whose study provides fundamental insights applicable to a wide array of disciplines. However, their three-dimensional (3D) structures and dynamics remain largely unexplored due to the subdiffraction limit length scales and submillisecond time scales characteristic of conventional molecular LCs. Here, we report a morphogenesis from conventional nematic tactoids to a unique flower-shaped morphology using a colloidal LC composed of Eu 3+ -doped LaPO 4 nanorods. We demonstrate 3D orientational tomography based on polarized photoluminescence spectroscopy of the Eu 3+ dopants, revealing dramatic topological and topographical modulations. We find that this morphogenesis is driven by a theoretically unexpected vertical anchoring of the nanorods on the substrate, which exerts conflicting boundary conditions and leads to a competition between elastic energy and relatively weak surface tension. Our results provide valuable insights into how energy balance in topological matter can be modulated by tuning physicochemical properties of its building blocks.
SN - 0027-8424
SN - 1091-6490
ER -