Alexander, Gareth P.

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2009 - 200912010 - 20121
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  • Publication
    Colloquium: Disclination loops, point defects, and all that in nematic liquid crystals
    (2012-06-01) Alexander, Gareth P.; Chen, Bryan Gin-ge; Kamien, Randall; Matsumoto, Elisabetta A
    The homotopy theory of topological defects is a powerful tool for organizing and unifying many ideas across a broad range of physical systems. Recently, experimental progress was made in controlling and measuring colloidal inclusions in liquid crystalline phases. The topological structure of these systems is quite rich but, at the same time, subtle. Motivated by experiment and the power of topological reasoning, the classification of defects in uniaxial nematic liquid crystals was reviewed and expounded upon. Particular attention was paid to the ambiguities that arise in these systems, which have no counterpart in the much-storied XY model or the Heisenberg ferromagnet.
  • Publication
    Helical Nanofilaments and the High Chiralty Limit of Smectics A
    (2009-12-18) Matsumoto, Elisabetta A.; Alexander, Gareth P.; Kamien, Randal D.
    Liquid crystalline systems exhibiting both macroscopic chirality and smectic order experience frustration resulting in mesophases possessing complex three-dimensional order. In the twist-grainboundary phase, defect lattices mediate the propagation of twist throughout the system. We propose a new chiral smectic structure composed of a lattice of chiral bundles as a model of the helical nanofilament (B4) phase of bent-core smectics.