Topological Microfluidics: Nematic Liquid Crystals and Nematic Colloids in Microfluidic Environment

This work represents one of the first comprehensive attempts to seamlessly integrate two highly active interdisciplinary domains in soft matter science – microfluidics and liquid crystals (LCs). Motivated by the lack of fundamental experiments, Dr. Sengupta initiated systematic investigation of LC flows at micro scales, gaining new insights that are also suggestive of novel applications. By tailoring the surface anchoring of the LC molecules and the channel dimensions, different topological...