Reflection and refraction of directrons at the interface

Reflection and refraction are ubiquitous phenomena with extensive applications, yet minimizing energy loss and information distortion during these processes remains a significant challenge. This study examines the behavior of structurally stable solitons, known as directrons, in nematic liquid crystals interacting with an interface where the director field orientation changes, despite identical physical properties, external potentials, and boundary anchoring in the two regions. During reflection and refraction, the directrons maintain nearly constant structure and velocity, ensuring energy conservation and information integrity. Microscopic analyses of the director field and macroscopic evaluations of effective potential are employed to elucidate the dependence of reflection and refraction probabilities on the directron's incident angle and the orientation difference across the interface. The findings provide valuable insights into the dynamics of solitary waves in structured liquid crystal systems, offering significant implications for the development of tunable photonic devices, reconfigurable optical systems, and nanoscale material engineering.

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2025-06-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2501488122
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Photonic Crystals and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.74

Funders

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article

Reflection and refraction of directrons at the interface

Nicholas L. Abbott, Yanqing Lu, Juan Pablo, Bingxiang Li et al.
3 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Photonic Crystals and Applications
3.74
article

Reflection and refraction of directrons at the interface

Nicholas L. Abbott, Yanqing Lu, Juan Pablo, Bingxiang Li, Yuxi Chen, Chaoyi Li, Jia‐Hui Zhao, Zhijun Huang, Xing‐Zhou Tang
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Reflection and refraction are ubiquitous phenomena with extensive applications, yet minimizing energy loss and information distortion during these processes remains a significant challenge. This study examines the behavior of structurally stable solitons, known as directrons, in nematic liquid crystals interacting with an interface where the director field orientation changes, despite identical physical properties, external potentials, and boundary anchoring in the two regions. During reflection and refraction, the directrons maintain nearly constant structure and velocity, ensuring energy conservation and information integrity. Microscopic analyses of the director field and macroscopic evaluations of effective potential are employed to elucidate the dependence of reflection and refraction probabilities on the directron's incident angle and the orientation difference across the interface. The findings provide valuable insights into the dynamics of solitary waves in structured liquid crystal systems, offering significant implications for the development of tunable photonic devices, reconfigurable optical systems, and nanoscale material engineering.

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 122(24)
Argonne National Laboratory (US), Cornell University (US), University of Chicago (US), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (CN), Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures (CN), New York University (US), Nanjing University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Photonic Crystals and Applications
3.74
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