2020/07/06 by Pooja Chandrakar, Minu Varghese, S. Ali Aghvami +3 · 63 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Active matter #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #Characterization and Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles #Composite material #Condensed matter physics #Deformation (meteorology) #Instability #Isotropy #Materials science #Mechanics #Micro and Nano Robotics #Molecular physics #Optics #Physics #Relaxation (psychology) #Wavelength #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.125.257801
published in Physical Review Letters 125(25), 257801 (American Physical Society)
arxiv created 2020/07/06 · openalex publication_date 2020/12/18 · arxiv updated 2021/01/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Spontaneous growth of long-wavelength deformations is a defining feature of active liquid crystals. We investigate the effect of confinement on the instability of 3D active liquid crystals in the isotropic phase composed of extensile microtubule bundles and kinesin molecular motors. When shear aligned, such fluids exhibit finite-wavelength self-amplifying bend deformations. By systematically changing the channel size we elucidate how the instability wavelength and its growth rate depend on the channel dimensions. Experimental findings are qualitatively consistent with a minimal hydrodynamic model, where the fastest growing deformation is set by a balance of active driving and elastic relaxation. Our results demonstrate that confinement determines the structure and dynamics of active fluids on all experimentally accessible length scales.