TY - JOUR A1 - Klopp, Christoph A1 - Trittel, Torsten A1 - Harth, Kirsten A1 - Stannarius, Ralf T1 - Coalescence of biphasic droplets embedded in free standing smectic A films JF - Soft Matter N2 - We investigate micrometer-sized flat droplets consisting of an isotropic core surrounded by a nematic rim in freely suspended smectic A liquid-crystal films. In contrast to purely isotropic droplets which are characterized by a sharp edge and no long-range interactions, the nematic fringe introduces a continuous film thickness change resulting in long-range mutual attraction of droplets. The coalescence scenario is divided in two phases. The first one consists in the fusion of the nematic regions. The second phase involves the dissolution of a thin nematic film between the two isotropic cores. The latter has many similarities with the rupture of thin liquid films between droplets coalescing in an immiscible viscous liquid. Coalescence of biphasic droplets in free-standing smectic films is controlled in part by the rupture of a thin nematic membrane separating the isotropic droplet cores. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/sm/d3sm01549a U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d3sm01549a SN - 1744-683X VL - 20 IS - 5 SP - 1036 EP - 1046 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stannarius, Ralf A1 - Harth, Kirsten T1 - The structure of disintegrating defect clusters in smectic C freely suspended films JF - Soft Matter N2 - Disclinations or disclination clusters in smectic C freely suspended films with topological charges larger than one are unstable. They disintegrate, preferably in a spatially symmetric fashion, into single defects with individual charges of +1, which is the smallest positive topological charge allowed in polar vector fields. While the opposite process of defect annihilation is well-defined by the initial defect positions, disintegration starts from a singular state and the following scenario including the emerging regular defect patterns must be selected by specific mechanisms. We analyze experimental data and compare them with a simple model where the defect clusters adiabatically pass quasi-equilibrium solutions in one-constant approximation. It is found that the defects arrange in geometrical patterns that correspond very closely to superimposed singular defect solutions, without additional director distortions. The patterns expand by affine transformations where all distances between individual defects scale with the same time-dependent scaling factor proportional to the square-root of time. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/sm/d3sm00808h U6 - https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1039/d3sm00808h IS - 19 SP - 6109 EP - 6115 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry ER -