Topological defects in active liquid crystals

I.S. Aranson
Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry and Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University, 205 Hallowell Building, University Park, PA, 16802-4400, USA

A wide class of out-of-equilibrium systems comprised of interacting self-propelled agents is termed active matter. The most relevant examples include suspensions of microscopic swimming organisms (bacteria, sperm cells, or unicellular algae), synthetic catalytic nanomotors, colloidal self-propelled Janus particles, and even macroscopic bird flocks, fish schools, or human crowds. The simplest and most studied realization of active matter is a suspension of microscopic swimmers, such as motile microorganisms or self-phoretic colloids. A liquid crystal, a highly-structured anisotropic environment with local molecular ordering, "doped" by a small amount of active component yields an interesting class of non-equilibrium materials with novel optical and mechanical properties. Singularities of local molecular orientation, or topological defects, play an important role in the spatiotemporal organization of active liquid crystals. This study surveys the most recent experimental and theoretical advances in the field of active liquid crystals and highlights connections with other nonequilibrium physical and biological systems.

Keywords: microswimmers, liquid crystals, topological defects, active matter, collective motion
PACS: 42.70.Df, 47.20.−k, 47.63.Gd (all)
DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2018.10.038433
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2019/9/c/
Web of Science

000504893200003
Scopus

2-s2.0-85080942488
ADS NASA

2019PhyU...62..892A
Citation: Aranson I S "Topological defects in active liquid crystals" Phys. Usp. 62 892–909 (2019)

BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks

Received: 7th, July 2018, revised: 22nd, September 2018, accepted: 4th, October 2018

Оригинал: Арансон И С «Топологические дефекты в активных жидких кристаллах» УФН 189 955–975 (2019); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2018.10.038433

References (140) Cited by (14) Similar articles (20) ↓

S.K. Turitsyn, N.N. Rozanov et al “Dissipative solitons in fiber lasers” 59 642–668 (2016)
S.M. Arakelyan “Optical bistability, multistability, and instabilities in liquid crystals” 30 1041–1064 (1987)
S.Ya. Vetrov, I.V. Timofeev, V.F. Shabanov “Localized modes in chiral photonic structures” 63 33–56 (2020)
M.Yu. Kagan, A.V. Turlapov “BCS—BEC crossover, collective excitations, and hydrodynamics of superfluid quantum fluids and gases” 62 215–248 (2019)
G.R. Ivanitskii, A.B. Medvinskii, M.A. Tsyganov “From disorder to order as applied to the movement of micro-organisms” 34 (4) 289–316 (1991)
V.V. Brazhkin “Ultrahard nanomaterials: myths and reality” 63 523–544 (2020)
Z.D. Kvon, D.A. Kozlov et al “Topological insulators based on HgTe” 63 629–647 (2020)
A.M. Fridman “Prediction and discovery of extremely strong hydrodynamic instabilities due to a velocity jump: theory and experiments” 51 213–229 (2008)
A.G. Merzhanov, É.N. Rumanov “Nonlinear effects in macroscopic kinetics” 30 293–316 (1987)
A.S. Monin “Hydrodynamic instability” 29 843–868 (1986)
G.R. Ivanitskii, A.B. Medvinskii, M.A. Tsyganov “From the dynamics of population autowaves generated by living cells to neuroinformatics” 37 961–989 (1994)
E.Z. Kuchinskii, I.A. Nekrasov, M.V. Sadovskii “Generalized dynamical mean-field theory in the physics of strongly correlated systems” 55 325–355 (2012)
A.V. Gurevich, K.P. Zybin “Runaway breakdown and electric discharges in thunderstorms” 44 1119–1140 (2001)
L.P. Babich “Thunderous neutrons” 62 976–999 (2019)
P.B. Ivanov, E.V. Mikheeva et al “Interferometric observations of supermassive black holes in the millimeter wave band” 62 423–449 (2019)
A.I. Osipov, A.V. Uvarov “Stability problems in a nonequilibrium gas” 39 597–608 (1996)
E.D. Eidel’man “Excitation of an electric instability by heating” 38 1231–1246 (1995)
N.M. Kuznetsov “Stability of shock waves” 32 993–1012 (1989)
M.Ya. Marov, I.I. Shevchenko “Exoplanets: nature and models” 63 837–871 (2020)
L.P. Babich “Relativistic runaway electron avalanche” 63 1188–1218 (2020)

The list is formed automatically.