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Research Highlight (See all of our publications)
Phys. Rev. E 109 (2024) L012701, by
Paul G. Severino and Randall D. Kamien
Volterra’s definition of dislocations in crystals geometrically distinguishes edge and screw defects according to whether the Burgers vector is perpendicular or parallel to the defect. A homotopy-theoretic analysis of dislocations as topological defects fails to differentiate edge and screw. Here we bridge the gap between the geometric and topological descriptions by demonstrating that there is a topological difference between screw and edge defects. Our construction distinguishes edge and screw based on the disclination-line pairs at the core of smectic dislocations. By exploiting the connection between topology and geometry in the form of Gaussian curvature, this analysis results in an invariant for dislocations in the saddle-splay vector. This construction can be generalized to crystals with triply periodic order.
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- Lauren Niu arrives from Harvard! (January 2023)
- Sonia Mahmoudi arrives from Tohoku! (November 2022)
- David King arrives from Cambridge! Welcome! (October 2021)
- Helen Ansell successfully defends her thesis! Congratulations Dr.
Ansell! (April 2021)
- Helen Ansell accepts postdoctoral position at Northwestern
University! (March 2021)
- Nandita Chaturvedi accepts postdoctoral position at the National
Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore! (November 2020)
- Daria Atkinson arrives from UMass Amherst! Welcome! (September
2020)
- Nandita Chaturvedi successfully defends her thesis! Congratulations
Dr. Chaturvedi! (August 2020)
- Lisa Tran wins 2020 Glenn Brown Dissertation Prize of the
International Liquid Crystal Society For her outstanding work on
the geometric confinement introducing complex defect structures and
revealing new insight into liquid crystal self-organization. Her work
exploits an elegant interplay of topological constraints and geometric
frustration to guide the formation of unexpected self-assembled complex
structures. (May 2020)
- Lisa Tran accepts faculty position at Utrecht University. (May
2019)
- Eric Horsley successfully defends thesis! (January 2019)
- Hillel Aharoni accepts faculty position at the Weizmann Institute!
(November 2018)
- Helen Ansell awarded Department of Physics and Astronomy's 2018 Werner B.
Teutsch Prize, Awarded annually to the graduate student who, by his
or her performance in the first year courses, shows the most promise for
outstanding achievement in research. (June 2018)
- Hillel Aharoni wins 2018 Michi Nakata Prize for Early Career
Achievements of the International
Liquid Crystal Society For his impressive evolution of research on
topological and geometric applications in soft matter physics from the
pattern formation in smectic liquid crystals, demonstrating how nature
uses simple geometric principles for achieving complex functionality. His
unusual broad view on the soft matter physics including liquid crystal
physics, based on strong mathematical and geometrical skills, will make
him grow as a prominent scientist. (June 2018)
- Ex-postdoc Tom Machon wins 2018 Glenn Brown Dissertation Prize
of the International Liquid Crystal Society
For his theoretical work on the topology and field states in soft
matters, especially in complex liquid crystalline environments, with the
goal to predict and determine topological properties of the objects such
as field knots and topological defects. Another aspect of his
contribution to soft matter, the stability of minimal surfaces, opens up
a fascinating new field at the intersection of physics and mathematics. (June 2018)
- Ex-student Dan Beller accepts faculty position at UC Merced! (June 2018)
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Last Modified 20 June 2023