Curling Liquid Crystal Microswimmers: A Cascade of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
Curling Liquid Crystal Microswimmers: A Cascade of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
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DOI：
10.1103/physrevlett.117.048003
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发表时间：
2016-07-21
影响因子：
8.6
通讯作者：
Maass, Corinna C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Krueger, Carsten;Kloes, Gunnar;Maass, Corinna C.
我们报告了常见介晶化合物的水乳液中的卷曲自推进。向列液晶液滴在浓度高于临界胶束浓度的表面活性剂溶液中自推进，同时进行胶束增溶作用（倒右垂直） Herminghaus et al., Soft Matter 10, 7008 (2014) 倒左垂直。我们分析了 Hele-Shaw 几何结构和可变浮力 3D 设置中的轨迹。向列指向矢场和液滴内的对流之间的耦合导致第二次对称性破缺，从而引起二维卷曲运动。这是通过加热至各向同性相可逆地转变为非螺旋持续游动来证明的。此外，自趋化性可以自发地打破反转对称性，从而产生 3D 螺旋轨迹。
We report curling self-propulsion in aqueous emulsions of common mesogenic compounds. Nematic liquid crystal droplets self-propel in a surfactant solution with concentrations above the critical micelle concentration while undergoing micellar solubilization inverted right perpendicular Herminghaus et al., Soft Matter 10, 7008 (2014) inverted left perpendicular. We analyzed trajectories both in a Hele-Shaw geometry and in a 3D setup at variable buoyancy. The coupling between the nematic director field and the convective flow inside the droplet leads to a second symmetry breaking which gives rise to curling motion in 2D. This is demonstrated through a reversible transition to nonhelical persistent swimming by heating to the isotropic phase. Furthermore, autochemotaxis can spontaneously break the inversion symmetry, leading to helical trajectories in 3D.