Bend instabilities and topological turbulence in shear-aligned living liquid crystal

Flagellated microswimmers <i>B. subtilis</i> dispersed in a nematic phase of a lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal form a living liquid crystal (LLC). The combination of the passive and active components allows us to analyze how the active component transitions from the shear-imposed alignment into topological turbulence. The lateral extension of the experimental cell is 1000 times larger than the 10-micrometer thickness, to avoid the effect of lateral confinement on the dynamic patterns. The surface anchoring is azimuthally degenerate to avoid permanent anisotropy. After the shear cessation, active forces produced by the microswimmers trigger self-amplifying bend undulations. The amplitude <i>A</i> of undulations grows with time and then saturates, while the wavelength <i>λ</i> increases only slightly. Strong bend stresses at the extrema of undulations are released by nucleating ±1/2 disclination pairs, which multiply to produce topological turbulence. The nucleating pairs and the symmetry axes of the +1/2 disclinations are orientationally ordered. In highly active LLCs, this alignment causes a nonmonotonous time dependence of the disclinations' number, as a fast-moving +1/2 disclination of one pair annihilates a -1/2 disclination of the neighboring pair. The spectra of elastic and kinetic energies exhibit distinct wavevector dependencies caused by the energy cost of the deformed passive nematic background. The study demonstrates how applied shears and a passive viscoelastic background affect the dynamics of active matter. Combined with the previously determined viscoelastic properties of the lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal, the results complete a comprehensive description of the experimentally assessable type of active matter.