CAREER: Crystallization of Chiral Liquid Crystals Under Curved Confinement

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

Liquid crystals, with properties between conventional liquids and crystalline solids and facile electric response, are the heart of many displays and electro-optic technologies. However, the advent of miniaturized, curved, and flexible devices such as displays, fiber optics, or wearable sensors has created a significant knowledge gap as crystallization under curved confinement remains less well-understood.

This project combines experimental and computational studies to discover the governing mechanisms by which high chirality liquid crystals reconfigure their 3D crystal lattices to adapt to curved confined boundaries. These basic nanoscale physical processes underlie a range of macroscopic phenomena, including response time and photonic bandgap, which can be utilized to expand the applications of soft chiral liquid crystals from photonics, sensing, and electronic displays to information technologies.

PI combines this research with synergistic educational and outreach activities, including research training for students from minority-serving institutions, curriculum development, and organizing a regional “Soft Matter Workshop” to enhance the exposure of the broader scientific community to soft condensed matter.

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT

Blue phases (BPs) are chiral liquid crystals with submicron cubic-crystalline lattices that exhibit Bragg refraction of visible light and short coherent length, enabling fast response times of