V001 / JSI / T134

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The journal Scientific Reports published on May 20, 2016 the article entitled "Points, skyrmions and torons in chiral nematic droplets", by Gregor Posnjak, Simon Čopar and Igor Muševič, members of the Solid State Department (F5) of JSI and Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana. They discovered a new method of reconstructing 3D orientational field of a liquid crystal, labelled with fluorescent molecules and imaged with a confocal optical microscope. Using this method they were able for the first time to determine unambigously the topological properties of a chiral liquid crystal, captured in a micro-droplet, as tiny as a hair. They could see singular point-like topological defects, separated by 3D topological objects, which are known in physics as skyrmions and torons.