title: Splitting, linking, knotting, and solitonic escape of topological defects in nematic drops with handles.
abstract: Topologically nontrivial field excitations, including solitonic, linked, and knotted structures, play important roles in physical systems ranging from classical fluids and liquid crystals, to electromagnetism, classic, and quantum field theories. These excitations can appear spontaneously during symmetry-breaking phase transitions. For example, in cosmological theories, cosmic strings may have formed knotted configurations influencing the Early Universe development, whereas in liquid crystals transient tangled defect lines were observed during isotropic-nematic transitions, eventually relaxing to defect-free states. Knotted and solitonic fields and defects were also obtained using optical manipulation, complex-shaped colloids, and frustrated cholesterics. Here we use confinement of nematic liquid crystal by closed surfaces with varied genus and perpendicular boundary conditions for a robust control of appearance and stability of such field excitations. Theoretical modeling and experiments reveal structure of defect lines as a function of the surface topology and material and geometric parameters, establishing a robust means of controlling solitonic, knotted, linked, and other field excitations.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck-Institut für Intelligente Systeme, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany; Institut für Theoretische Physik IV, Universität Stuttgart, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany; miko@is.mpg.de ivan.smalyukh@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Mykola
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tasinkevych
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309; Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309;
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309; Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309; Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309; and Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 miko@is.mpg.de ivan.smalyukh@colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Ivan I
authors.initials: II
authors.lastname: Smalyukh
keywords: defects; knotted fields; liquid crystals; polymer-dispersed liquid crystals; topology