The term "topological soft matter" is used for systems with stable defects in the orientational order-parameter field. In nematogenic liquid crystals interplay of confining geometry, surface anchoring, elasticity, chirality often lead to frustration and consequently to stable or metastable disclinations and solitonic deformations. Recently a lot of attention has been devoted to blue phases and confined & colloidal nematics. Here I present two of our recent achievements based on the synergy of numerical modeling and experiments: i) detection of skyrmion lattices in confined blue phases[1] and ii) sensing the surface morphology of biofibers with nematic drops[2].
Studies were performed within local and international collaborations including S. Čopar, J. Fukuda, E.M. Godinho I. Muševič, A. Nych, U. Ognista, M. Ravnik, D. Seč, and M. Škarabot.
[1] A. Nych, J. Fukuda, U. Ognysta, S. Žumer, and I. Muševič, Direct optical observation of a half-Skyrmion lattice in a blue-phase liquid-crystal, submitted.
[2] L. E. Aguirre, A. de Oliveira, D. Seč, S. Čopar, P. L. Almeida, M. Ravnik, M. H. Godinho and S. Žumer, Sensing surface morphology of biofibers by decorating spider silk and cellulosic filaments with nematic microdroplets, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., doi:10.1073/pnas.1518739113 (2016).