Workshop 2025: Dynamics of topological defects in active and driven soft matter

Session Information

Location: Lecture room Schay
Day: Wednesday, 14 May
Time: 16:00 - 16:30
Chairperson: Sonja Franke-Arnold

Presentation Details

Presentation Type: Oral presentation
Title:  Dynamics of topological defects in active and driven soft matter
Abstract: Fluids with nematic orientational order emerge in various soft matter materials, from nematic liquid crystals to biological and synthesised active matter. Topological defects in the orientational order are called disclinations and genereally appear in the form of point defects, lines, and loops. I will present disclination dynamics for self-propagating active nematics [1,2] as well as driven nematic fluids in microchannels [3] and colloidal systems [4]. I will mainly focus on three-dimensional properties, where I will present the dynamic modes of single disclination loops, as well as topological reconfiguration dynamics of multiple loops and disclination networks. This work aims to provide insight into non-equilibrium soft matter from the perspective of the topology and dynamics of the emergent defects.

[1] N. Kralj, M. Ravnik, Ž. Kos, Defect line coarsening and refinement in active nematics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 128101 (2023).
[2] N. Kralj, M. Ravnik, Ž. Kos, Chirality, anisotropic viscosity and elastic anisotropy in three-dimensional active nematic turbulence, Comm. Phys. 7, 222 (2024).
[3] S. Čopar, Ž. Kos, T. Emeršič, U. Tkalec, Microfluidic control over topological states in channel-confined nematic flows, Nat. Comm. 11, 59 (2020).
[4] T. Yao, Ž. Kos, Q.X. Zhang, Y. Luo, F. Serra, E.B. Steager, M. Ravnik, K.J. Stebe, Nematic Colloidal Micro‐Robots as Physically Intelligent Systems, Adv. Func. Mat. 32 , 2205546 (2022).

Presenter

Dr Ziga Kos
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics | Slovenia

Authors

1. Ziga Kos | University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics