Charged Three-Dimensional Solitons in a Ferroelectric Nematic Liquid Crystal
Authors: Netra Prasad Dhakal, Zakaria Siddiquee, Hiroya Nishikawa, Fumito Araoka, James Gleeson, Samuel Sprunt, Antal Jakli
Abstract
Experimental observations and computer simulation of formation and structural properties of so far experimentally never seen electrically charged propagating 3D solitons are reported. The propagating solitons appear spontaneously without an external field in a ferroelectric nematic (NF) liquid crystal under rapid cooling from the antiferroelectric (SmZA) phase. The observed solitons propagate either parallel or antiparallel to the ferroelectric polarization and annihilate when they collide with each other. They are attributed to either positively or negatively charged propagating local polarization splay formed to screen excess negative or positive mobile charge lumps in the NF phase. The presence of mobile charge is attributed to a spatially periodic charge distribution present in the antiferroelectric phase that temporarily remains after the temperature is quenched through the antiferroelectric- ferroelectric phase transition.
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Closest papers
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Dynamics of electrically driven solitons in nematic and cholesteric liquid crystalsYuan Shen, I. Dierking · 2020 · Communications Physics · cited 40 times · Not summarized yet
Dynamics of electrically driven solitons in nematic and cholesteric liquid crystals studies field-driven multidimensional director solitons, while this paper observes unforced charged solitons in ferroelectric nematics.
Abstract
Investigations on solitons have been carried out for decades in various areas of physics, such as nonlinear photonics, magnetic matter and superconductors. However, producing multidimensional solitary states and manipulation of their motion are still big challenges. In this work, we describe the formation of dynamic multidimensional solitons in a nematic and a cholesteric liquid crystal (LC). These solitons are self-confined director perturbations that propagate rapidly through the LC bulk and preserve their identities after collisions. We tune the velocity of the solitons by electric fields and control their trajectories through alignment layers. We find that the chirality of the cholesteri…
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Kinetics of motile solitons in nematic liquid crystalsS. Aya, F. Araoka · 2020 · Nature Communications · cited 55 times · Not summarized yet
Kinetics of motile solitons in nematic liquid crystals examines electrically stimulated solitons and their field-dependent motion, unlike this paper’s spontaneously propagating solitons after cooling.
Abstract
The generation of spatially localized, soliton-like hydrodynamic disturbances in microscale fluidic systems is an intriguing challenge. Herein, we introduce nonequilibrium solitons in nematic liquid crystals stimulated by an electric field. These dynamic solitons are robust as long as the electric field is maintained. Interestingly, their kinetic behaviours depend on the field condition—Tuning of the amplitude and frequency of the applied electric field alters the solitons to self-assemble into lattice ordering like physical particles or to command them to various dynamic states. Our key property to the realisation is the electrohydrodynamic instability due to the coupling between the fluid …
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Electrically controlled kinetics of polar solitons in chiral nematicsJia-Hao Chen, Xing-Zhou Tang, Yang Ding et al. · 2026 · Communications Physics · Not summarized yet
Electrically controlled kinetics of polar solitons in chiral nematics studies field-controlled polar soliton motion and interactions, whereas this paper reports spontaneous charged solitons in ferroelectric nematics.
Abstract
External fields can drive solitons into directed motion, making them promising carriers for information transport. However, controlling soliton motion and interactions remains challenging because many liquid-crystal topological solitons exhibit symmetry-constrained dynamics. Here, we report electrically driven polar solitons in chiral nematic liquid crystals. Flexoelectric torque, dielectric coupling, and chirality generate head–tail polarity and dipole-like behavior, enabling nonreciprocal dynamics and tunable interactions. By varying voltage amplitude, bias, and waveform, solitons exhibit perturbation-sensitive drift, circular, and linear trajectories. Head-to-head alignment causes repulsi…
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Spherical ferroelectric solitonsV. Govinden, S. Prokhorenko, Qi Zhang et al. · 2023 · Nature Materials · cited 51 times · Not summarized yet
Spherical ferroelectric solitons concerns ferroelectric solitons, the same general object investigated here.
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Electrically driven three-dimensional solitary waves as director bullets in nematic liquid crystalsBing-Xiang Li, V. Borshch, Rui-Lin Xiao et al. · 2018 · Nature Communications · cited 81 times · Not summarized yet
Electrically driven three-dimensional solitary waves as director bullets in nematic liquid crystals creates propagating 3D director waves with an electric field, unlike this paper’s unforced charged solitons.
Abstract
Electric field-induced collective reorientation of nematic molecules is of importance for fundamental science and practical applications. This reorientation is either homogeneous over the area of electrodes, as in displays, or periodically modulated, as in electroconvection. The question is whether spatially localized three-dimensional solitary waves of molecular reorientation could be created. Here we demonstrate that the electric field can produce particle-like propagating solitary waves representing self-trapped “bullets” of oscillating molecular director. These director bullets lack fore-aft symmetry and move with very high speed perpendicularly to the electric field and to the initial a…
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Fluid fibers in true 3D ferroelectric liquidsAlexander Jarosik, H. Nádasi, Michael Schwidder et al. · 2024 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · cited 29 times · Not summarized yet
Fluid fibers in true 3D ferroelectric liquids examines polarization-driven structures in ferroelectric nematics rather than propagating solitons.
Abstract
Significance A recent discovery that 3D fluids can form phases with vector symmetries, such as ferroelectric and ferromagnetic nematics, has sparked intense studies of their behavior in confinement. We demonstrate one of the most remarkable consequences of the high spontaneous polarization in fluid ferroelectrics—the formation of static liquid fibers. Polarization-driven confinement of the electric field stabilizes polar liquid cylinders suppressing surface fluctuations in systems without translational symmetry breaking. Such ferroelectric liquid fibers exhibit exceptional nonlinear optical properties and a strong response to electric fields. The potential impact of these new materials on te…
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Ferroelectric nematic and smectic liquid crystals with sub-molecular spatial correlations.P. Guragain, Arjun Ghimire, M. Badu et al. · 2025 · Materials Horizons · cited 6 times · Not summarized yet
Ferroelectric nematic and smectic liquid crystals with sub-molecular spatial correlations characterizes ferroelectric nematic materials and their structural correlations, not soliton formation.
Abstract
Nematic liquid crystals are anisotropic fluids which have long-range one-dimensional orientational order and short-range spatial correlations corresponding to the molecular length L. In X-ray studies this is manifested as diffuse peaks along the average direction of the molecular long axis at Q = 2π/L and weaker harmonics at 2Q and 3Q wave numbers. This is the case for the recently discovered ferroelectric nematic (NF) liquid crystals as well. Here we synthesized highly polar three ring rod-shaped compounds with a terminal thiophene ring which on cooling from the isotropic fluid directly transition to the NF phase that shows the strongest spatial correlations corresponding to 1/3 of the mole…
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Static three-dimensional topological solitons in fluid chiral ferromagnets and colloids.P. J. Ackerman, I. Smalyukh · 2017 · Nature Materials · cited 193 times · Not summarized yet
Static three-dimensional topological solitons in fluid chiral ferromagnets and colloids studies static 3D solitons in different polar fluids.
Prior work it builds on
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The smectic ZA phase: Antiferroelectric smectic order as a prelude to the ferroelectric nematicXi Chen, Vikina Martinez, E. Korblova et al. · 2021 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · cited 122 times · Not summarized yet
The smectic ZA phase: Antiferroelectric smectic order as a prelude to the ferroelectric nematic studies the antiferroelectric phase from which this paper rapidly cools its samples.
Abstract
Significance A persistent theme that has emerged from the century-long experimental and theoretical study of ferroelectric crystals and liquid crystals is that ferroelectricity and antiferroelectricity go hand-in-hand, such that if one is found, the other will also be in the same or closely related families of materials. At the root of this behavior is the frustration inherent in steric and electrostatic dipolar interactions, exemplified by the latter, for which dipole pairs arranged end-to-end prefer to be parallel, while dipole side-by-side pairs prefer to be antiparallel. Here, we show that the unexpected recent discovery of the ferroelectric nematic phase and its nearly perfect ferroelec…
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Controlled propagation of soliton bullets in an engineered strain fieldAlexis de la Cotte, Xingzhou Tang, Chuqiao Chen et al. · 2026 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · cited 1 time · Not summarized yet
Controlled propagation of soliton bullets in an engineered strain field controls electrically generated liquid-crystal solitons through strain profiles, unlike this paper’s spontaneous charged solitons.
Abstract
Significance Understanding the propagation of nonlinear excitations is a crucial challenge in multiple science and engineering domains. We use liquid crystals (LCs) as model materials in which we can easily design strain profiles and propagate highly localized and fast waves (called soliton bullets) generated by nonlinear feedback mechanisms in the presence of AC electric fields. By combining experiments, theory, and simulations, we reveal how far-field and local nonlinear strains interact and provide a rich source of ways to control the trajectories of solitons. We show how the latter are affected by field frequency and strain direction. Overall, the versatility of LCs provides pathways to …
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Fluid Ferroelectric FilamentsM. Máthé, Kelum Perera, Á. Buka et al. · 2023 · Advancement of science · cited 31 times · Not summarized yet
Fluid Ferroelectric Filaments investigates polarization-splay-stabilized structures in ferroelectric nematics, sharing the role of polarization splay with this paper’s proposed soliton mechanism.
Abstract
Freestanding slender fluid filaments of room‐temperature ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals are described. They are stabilized either by internal electric fields of bound charges formed due to polarization splay or by external voltage applied between suspending wires. The phenomenon is similar to those observed in dielectric fluids, such as deionized water, except that in ferroelectric nematic materials the voltages required are three orders of magnitudes smaller and the aspect ratio is much higher. The observed ferroelectric fluid threads are not only unique and novel but also offer measurements of basic physical quantities, such as the ferroelectric polarization and viscosity. Ferroelec…
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Ferroelectric nematic liquids with conicsPriyanka Kumari, Bijay Basnet, Hao Wang et al. · 2023 · Nature Communications · cited 63 times · Not summarized yet
Ferroelectric nematic liquids with conics studies polarization domain walls shaped to avoid electric charges, addressing charge organization in the same liquid-crystal phase.
Abstract
Spontaneous electric polarization of solid ferroelectrics follows aligning directions of crystallographic axes. Domains of differently oriented polarization are separated by domain walls (DWs), which are predominantly flat and run along directions dictated by the bulk translational order and the sample surfaces. Here we explore DWs in a ferroelectric nematic (N_F) liquid crystal, which is a fluid with polar long-range orientational order but no crystallographic axes nor facets. We demonstrate that DWs in the absence of bulk and surface aligning axes are shaped as conic sections. The conics bisect the angle between two neighboring polarization fields to avoid electric charges. The remarkable …
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Antiferroelectric Order in Nematic Liquids: Flexoelectricity Versus ElectrostaticsP. Medle-Rupnik, Ema Hanžel, Matija Lovšin et al. · 2024 · Advancement of science · cited 35 times · Not summarized yet
Antiferroelectric Order in Nematic Liquids: Flexoelectricity Versus Electrostatics investigates the antiferroelectric order that precedes the phase transition central to this paper.
Abstract
The recent discovery of ferroelectric nematic liquid crystalline phases marks a major breakthrough in soft matter research. An intermediate phase, often observed between the nonpolar and the ferroelectric nematic phase, shows a distinct antiferroelectric response to electric fields. However, its structure and formation mechanisms remain debated, with flexoelectric and electrostatics effects proposed as competing mechanisms. By controlling the magnitude of electrostatic forces through ion addition in two representative ferroelectric nematic materials, it is shown that the primary mechanism for the emergence of antiferroelectric order is the flexoelectric coupling between electric polarization…
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