Theory of microphase separation in bidisperse chiral membranes Article Swipe

View

Related Concepts

Twist Membrane Instability Phase transition Rod Materials science Phenomenology (philosophy) Chemical physics Phase diagram Condensed matter physics Statistical physics Phase (matter) Mechanics Physics Chemistry Mathematics Quantum mechanics Geometry Philosophy Biochemistry Pathology Alternative medicine Epistemology Medicine

Raunak Sakhardande , Stefan Stanojeviea , Arvind Baskaran , Aparna Baskaran , Michael F. Hagan , Bulbul Chakraborty ·

YOU? · · 2017 · Open Access · · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.96.012704 · OA: W2339216233

We present a Ginzburg-Landau theory of microphase separation in a bidisperse chiral membrane consisting of rods of opposite handedness. This model system undergoes a phase transition from an equilibrium state where the two components are completely phase separated to a state composed of microdomains of a finite size comparable to the twist penetration depth. Characterizing the phenomenology using linear stability analysis and numerical studies, we trace the origin of the discontinuous change in microdomain size that occurs during this phase transition to a competition between the cost of creating an interface and the gain in twist energy for small microdomains in which the twist penetrates deep into the center of the domain.