Liquid crystals are condensed-matter systems that exhibit phases with orientational order of constituent anisotropic molecules while retaining partial fluidity characteristic of liquids. Depending on molecular organization and symmetry, they form distinct mesophases such as nematic, smectic, and cholesteric, each defined by specific order parameters and broken symmetries. Their physical behavior is governed by elastic continuum theories (e.g., Frank–Oseen) and coupling between director fields, flow, and external fields (electric, magnetic). Liquid crystals display anisotropic optical, dielectric, and rheological properties, enabling controllable phase transitions and defect structures that are central to both fundamental studies of soft matter and engineered photonic or electro-optic systems.
It's tricky to make an exact copy of yourself. Or at least it is for cells undergoing mitosis, where cells replicate everything inside of them, including their neatly packaged DNA, then split in half. Rice University professor ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 29, 2026
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Liquid crystals are an integral part of modern technology, ranging from displays to advanced sensory systems. In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers from the Institute of Experimental Physics of the Slovak ...
Soft Matter
May 15, 2026
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Researchers have recently found a new way to summon useful structures in magnetic materials using light, heat, and electric fields. This new method, described in a new study published in Physical Review Letters, may lead ...
Researchers have developed, for the first time in the world, incoherent dielectric tensor tomography (iDTT), a technology that can read complex three-dimensional optical fingerprints inside materials using only everyday LED ...
Optics & Photonics
May 7, 2026
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47
An international team of scientists, including researchers from Loughborough University, has developed a method to dramatically speed up the discovery and design of advanced materials. The study, published in Physical Review ...
General Physics
Apr 13, 2026
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The direction in which the electromagnetic field of circularly polarized light rotates can be easily reversed by applying a voltage, RIKEN researchers have demonstrated. This could enable a new generation of optical devices ...
Condensed Matter
Apr 1, 2026
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In physics, some waves behave in a surprising way: instead of spreading out and fading, they hold their shape as they travel at constant speeds. These unusual waves, called solitons, have interested scientists since they ...
Soft Matter
Mar 30, 2026
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17
Can light behave like a whirlwind? It turns out it can—and such "optical tornadoes" have now been created in an extremely small structure by scientists from the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, the Military ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 27, 2026
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136
Controlling light with light is a long-sought goal for computing and communication technologies. Achieving this capability would allow optical signals to be processed without converting them into electrical signals, potentially ...
Optics & Photonics
Mar 9, 2026
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47
Crystalline nanomaterials are valuable because their highly ordered structures give them useful properties for technologies such as data storage and optical devices. But forming nanoparticles from those orderly crystals is ...
Nanophysics
Mar 3, 2026
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