Emergent dimer-model topological order and quasiparticle excitations in liquid crystals: combinatorial vortex lattices

Meng, Cuiling (author), Wu, Jin-Sheng (author), Kos, Žiga (author), Dunkel, Jörn (author), Nisoli, Cristiano (author), Smalyukh, Ivan I. (author)

Liquid crystals have proven to provide a versatile experimental and theoretical platform for studying topological objects such as vortices, skyrmions, and hopfions. In parallel, in hard condensed matter physics, the concept of topological phases and topological order has been introduced in the context of spin liquids to investigate emergent phenomena like quantum Hall effects and high-temperature superconductivity. Here, we bridge these two seemingly disparate perspectives on topology in physics. Combining experiments and simulations, we show how topological defects in liquid crystals can be used as versatile building blocks to create complex, highly degenerate topological phases, which we refer to as “combinatorial vortex lattices” (CVLs). CVLs exhibit extensive residual entropy and support locally stable quasiparticle excitations in the form of charge-conserving topological monopoles, which can act as mobile information carriers and be linked via Dirac strings. CVLs can be rewritten and reconfigured on demand, endowed with various symmetries, and modified through laser-induced topological surgery—an essential capability for information storage and retrieval. We demonstrate experimentally the realization, stability, and precise optical manipulation of CVLs, thus opening new avenues for understanding and technologically exploiting higher-hierarchy topology in liquid crystals and other ordered media.

• Language: English
• Keywords: soft matter physics, liquid crystals, topological defects, combinatorial vortex lattices
• 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: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 021084-1-021084-18
• Numbering: Vol. 15, iss. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-169839
• UDC: 538.9
• ISSN on article: 2160-3308
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.15.021084
• COBISS.SI-ID: 239126531
• Publication date in RUL: 12.06.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Physical review
• Shortened title: Phys. rev., X
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• ISSN: 2160-3308
• COBISS.SI-ID: 19686152

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: fizika mehke snovi, tekoči kristali, topološki defekti