Light-controlled topological charge in a nematic liquid crystal

被引：0

作者：

Nikkhou M. ^{[1
]}

Škarabot M. ^{[1
]}

Čopar S. ^{[1
,2
]}

Ravnik M. ^{[2
]}

Žumer S. ^{[1
,2
]}

Muševč I. ^{[1
,2
]}

机构：

[1] Condensed Matter Physics Department, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, Ljubljana

[2] Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, Ljubljana

来源：

Nature Physics | 2015年 / 11卷 / 2期

关键词：

D O I：

10.1038/nphys3194

中图分类号：

学科分类号：

摘要：

Creating, imaging, and transforming the topological charge in a superconductor, a superfluid, a system of cold atoms, or a soft ferromagnet is a difficult - if not impossible - task because of the shortness of the length scales and lack of control. The length scale and softness of defects in liquid crystals allow the easy observation of charges, but it is difficult to control charge creation. 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. © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited.

引用

页码：183 / 187

页数：4

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