Nematic bits and universal logic gates

Kos, Žiga (author), Dunkel, Jörn (author)

Liquid crystals (LCs) can host robust topological defect structures that essentially determine their optical and elastic properties. Although recent experimental progress enables precise control over nematic LC defects, their practical potential for information storage and processing has yet to be explored. Here, we introduce the concept of nematic bits (nbits) by exploiting a quaternionic mapping from LC defects to the Poincaré-Bloch sphere. Through theory and simulations, we demonstrate how single-nbit operations can be implemented using electric fields, to construct LC analogs of Pauli, Hadamard, and other elementary logic gates. Using nematoelastic interactions, we show how four-nbit configurations can realize universal classical NOR and NAND gates. Last, we demonstrate the implementation of generalized logical functions that take values on the Poincaré-Bloch sphere. These results open a route toward the implementation of classical digital and nonclassical continuous computation strategies in topological soft matter systems.

• Language: English
• Keywords: liquid crystals, nematic bits, logic gates
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FMF - Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 10 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 8, no. 33, art. eabp8371
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-145387
• UDC: 538.9
• ISSN on article: 2375-2548
• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abp8371
• COBISS.SI-ID: 119595779
• Publication date in RUL: 20.04.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Science advances
• Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science
• ISSN: 2375-2548
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523392025

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: tekoči kristali, nematski biti, logična vrata