Topological defects occur in ordered fields, for example a dislocation in a crystal. Liquid crystal materials can also exhibit topological defects in their director field. We are interested in topological defects in reduced order systems such as thin liquid crystal shells and pickering emulsions. In particular we are looking at the coupling between topological defects in soft oriented systems  and underlying curvature.

In a recent project we looked at the formation topological defects in lipid vesicles due to molecular tilt in the bilayer.

“Morphology transition in lipid vesicles due to in-plane order and topological defects“

We are currently looking at Pickering emulsions in the context of interfacial curvature and defect organization.