Fractals are remarkable examples of self-similarity where a structure or dynamic pattern is repeated over multiple spatial or time scales. However, little is known about how fractal stimuli such as fractal surfaces interact with their local environment if it exhibits order. Here we show geometry-induced formation of fractal defect states in Koch nematic colloids, exhibiting fractal self-similarity better than 90% over three orders of magnitude in the lengthscales, from micrometers to nanometres. We produce polymer Koch-shaped hollow colloidal prisms of three successive fractal iterations by direct laser writing, and characterize their coupling with the nematic by polarization microscopy and numerical modelling. Explicit generation of topological defect pairs is found, with the number of defects following exponential-law dependence and reaching few 100 already at fractal iteration four. This work demonstrates a route for generation of fractal topological defect states in responsive soft matter.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30202663
Here we demonstrate full control over the creation, manipulation and analysis of topological charges that are pinned to a microfibre in a nematic liquid crystal. Oppositely charged pairs are created through the Kibble–Zurek mechanism by applying a laser-induced local temperature quench in the presence of symmetry-breaking boundaries. The pairs are long-lived, oppositely charged rings or points that either attract and annihilate, or form a long-lived, charge-neutral loop made of two segments with a fractional topological charge.
COBISS.SI-ID: 2786916
Here we report on long-lived hidden topological states in thermally quenched, chiral nematic droplets, formed from string-like, triangular and polyhedral constellations of monovalent and polyvalent singular point defects. These topological defects are regularly packed into a spherical liquid volume and stabilized by the elastic energy barrier due to the helical structure and confinement of the liquid crystal in the micro-sphere. We observe, for the first time, topological three-dimensional point defects of the quantized hedgehog charge q= -2,-3. These higher-charge defects act as ideal polyvalent artificial atoms, binding the defects into polyhedral constellations representing topological molecules.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30270503
We study anisotropic Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) from dye molecules, which are collectively ordered in a host liquid crystal. Due to the ordering of fluorescent emitters, the STED efficiency depends on the polarization of the depletion beam and time-delay of the STED pulse. The depletion efficiency is highest at lower temperatures in the highly ordered smectic-A phase and deteriorates in the higher temperature nematic and isotropic phases. We demonstrate by temporal tuning of STED that it is possible to generate an arbitrary sequence of nanosecond fluorescent pulses with variable width and variable delay. Our results show that the STED mechanism in principle allows for very fast (GHz) and efficient control of light by light, which could in the future be used for all-optical control of the flow of light in photonic microdevices based on liquid crystals.
COBISS.SI-ID: 28751143
This review presents the main results that were achieved over the past decade in the new field of liquid-crystal micro-photonics. After a general introduction to some aspects of state-of-the-art microphotonics technologies, nematic colloids are discussed in terms of their self-assembly and photonic properties. Liquid-crystal lasers, based on spatially periodic, liquid-crystal phases, are reviewed, and microlasers based on liquid-crystal microdroplets are presented and discussed. We show that optical microfibres can be self-grown in water/liquid-crystal dispersions and present their waveguiding and lasing properties. The review concludes with a discussion of the resonant transfer of light across different liquid-crystal micro-objects and presents the ultra-fast optical Kerr and STED effects in bulk nematic liquid crystals.
COBISS.SI-ID: 30225191