Kinetics of motile solitons in fluid nematics

Solitary waves, dubbed "solitons", are special types of waves that propagate for an infinite distance under ideal conditions. These waves are ubiquitously found in nature such as typhoon or neuron signals. Yet, their artificial generation and the control of their propagation remain outstanding challenges in materials science owing to an insufficient understanding of the experimental conditions and theoretical aspects. Herein, a generic strategy for forming particle-like solitons and controlling their kinetics in nematic fluid media is reported. The key to the realisation of the generation of solitons and the control of their kinetics is the coupling between the fluid elasticity and the background flow flux, as evidenced by experimental observations and theoretical approaches. The findings of this study enable the exploration of solitons in a wide range of materials and have technological ramifications for the lossless transport of energy or structures.

Satoshi Aya, Fumito Araoka · 2019