2016/06/30 by Pau Guillamat, Jordi Ignés‐Mullol, Jordi Ignés-Mullol +3
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #Characterization and Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles #Composite material #Liquid crystal #Materials science #Mechanics #Micro and Nano Robotics #Optoelectronics #Physics #Shear (geology) #Thermodynamics #Viscosity #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.94.060602
published as Phys. Rev. E 94, 060602 (2016) · 5 pages, 4 figures, a SI file, and a SI video
arxiv created 2016/07/09 · openalex publication_date 2016/12/28 · arxiv updated 2017/01/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
In vitro reconstituted active systems, such as the adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-driven microtubule bundle suspension developed by the Dogic group [T. Sanchez, D. T. Chen, S. J. DeCamp, M. Heymann, and Z. Dogic, Nature (London) 491, 431 (2012)10.1038/nature11591], provide a fertile testing ground for elucidating the phenomenology of active liquid crystalline states. Controlling such novel phases of matter crucially depends on our knowledge of their material and physical properties. In this Rapid Communication, we show that the shear viscosity of an active nematic film can be probed by varying its hydrodynamic coupling to a bounding oil layer. Using the motion of disclinations as intrinsic tracers of the flow field and a hydrodynamic model, we obtain an estimate for the shear viscosity of the nematic film. Knowing this now provides us with an additional handle for robust and precision tunable control of the emergent dynamics of active fluids.