Liquid crystal topological defects at the nanoscale precision

We will study topological defects in smectic liquid crystals at the scale of a single defect or a very small number of defects, using nano-diffraction on a thin film (8CB smectic liquid crystal) made of topological defects oriented by a rubbed polymer substrate. The aim will be to study defect core structures and elastic distortions around the core at a scale that is still poorly understood for liquid crystal materials. We will also study how these structures evolve when approaching the transition to nematic phase or when nanoparticles are confined and organised within the core of these defects. We will scan in 1D, perpendicular to the oriented defects, both in GISAXS (reflection) and in TSAXS (transmission) to allow at each point for a full reconstruction of the smectic layer distortion and topological defects determination. Data analysis will take advantage of the methodology previously established in average, allowing for a future automatic analysis of the nanoscale 1D scanning.